The Boyfriend
by H. S. Hines
Summary: InuYasha goes too far and Kagome decides enough is enough. She returns to her time to discover a new kid in class who seems to have his eye on her... WIP, angst. Won 2nd place at the Feudal Association for best angst!
1. Parting

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 1**

Kagome stalked back to the well, furious beyond words. She couldn't even muster a 'sit, boy' before she left. InuYasha had gone too far this time, throwing all her schoolbooks in the river. She was just thankful that they had been in plastic bags because it was the rainy season and she didn't want them getting ruined. Two of the bags had leaked, having been underwater longest, and she feared she would have to pay the school for the damages. It just figured that both were her language books.

InuYasha had grown tired of her studying and, without warning, had grabbed all of her books in his hands and tossed them as hard as he could. Only the math book she was studying from hadn't been thrown, although she almost flung it at his head as she chased her other books. She had just left, not saying another word. How could he not realize how important an education was to her? Hadn't she told him, over and over, that she _needed_ to study? Didn't he understand how _heavy_ those stupid books were and how she hated carrying them around? Did he care?

No, she decided. He didn't care. And she wasn't going to put up with it. She needed to replace the English book, because there was no way she was going to pass the class if she didn't. The Japanese book wasn't too bad; she could probably just lay it out to dry. She crawled out of the well into her own time; just as angry as when she left. A moment of guilt for not saying anything to her friends passed when she again thought of InuYasha's careless disregard for her life. All that he cared about was Naraku and the sacred jewel. Sure, she cared about finding them, but there were other things that were just as important in her life. Like making sure she would have one after they completed the jewel quest.

Kagome decided she wasn't going back until InuYasha forced her to. First things first, she checked the time as she walked in the front door, taking off he shoes.

"Kagome!" Souta exclaimed as she walked in. He stopped, bouncing his backpack into a better position on his shoulders. "Well, if you're going to school, you better hurry," he said, then slipped his feet into his shoes. Kagome yelped and ran up to her bedroom, tossing everything that wasn't school-related out of her bag and changing into a clean uniform. She ran downstairs as fast as she could, tripping at the bottom and falling flat on her face.

"Kagome!" her mother exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise. "Be careful! Don't run on the stairs," she admonished, helping her daughter to her feet.

"Sorry, Mama, just got home, gotta run!" With that, Kagome shoved her shoes back on and ran as quickly as she could, dashing past Souta. She had to find out what her grandfather had been telling people this time before class started. She had once made the mistake of barely making it to class on time once and had shrieked in outrage when she heard what her grandpa had said about her last absence (tests for a female problem) and had spent quite a bit of time on her knees in the hall for it. She knew he couldn't come up with much worse, but she still wanted to be prepared. Sometimes, she got the idea that he was punishing her for time traveling. After all, she knew how he felt about her hanging out with a hanyo.

She saw Ayumi and Eri up ahead and hurried over to them. "Hi! Where's Yuka?" she asked.

"Kagome!" they called, waving as she walked up. "Yuka hasn't been to class the past two days," Eri said.

"She has strep throat," Ayumi finished.

"How terrible," Kagome said, frowning.

"Not as bad as being laid up with leukemia again," Ayumi said with a sympathetic smile. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, her last talk with her grandfather about reusing conditions that recurred had penetrated his thick skull.

"I hope she's better soon," Kagome said, dismissing her friend's concerns. She felt terrible that Yuka was really sick, but her friends were more worried about her fake illness. She figured Yuka was probably worried about her, too, even with strep throat.

"Yes, she'll be sorry she missed you," Eri said. "Oh, look, there's that new boy."

"New boy?" Kagome asked, looking to where Eri had pointed.

"Yes, his name is Yukio," Ayumi said.

"You know him by his first name?" Kagome asked, surprised.

"Everyone does," Eri said. "He's very strange. But you'll see. He's in 3-A."

"Our class?" Kagome exclaimed. "But we have finals next week! Why is he even going so late in the year? Class is almost over."

"I don't know," Eri said.

"He transferred from Kyoto. No one's really sure why," Ayumi added.

"How strange," Kagome said. All she could see of him was the back of his head. He had black hair, pulled back into a ponytail and wore the usual school uniform for boys. He didn't have a backpack on, though, which was strange. Then he turned and she caught her breath. She had seen her fair share of beautiful boys, but he surprised her. His bangs fell in his face, the ends dyed blood red. She couldn't see the color of his eyes, but for a moment, she thought they looked gold, like InuYasha's. He looked bored as he glanced around the courtyard, but his eyes widened when he saw her. He smiled lazily and she blushed and looked away, a chill shooting up her spine. '_He looked at me like a cat looks at a mouse_,' she thought. She quickly hurried to the morning meeting, trying to forget the boy with the predator eyes.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: Yeah, I tried, once again, to wait until a story was finished to start posting, but I didn't realize this was becoming a chapter fic until it was ready and begging to be divided. Let me know what you think!_


	2. Meeting Yukio

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. Oh, and constructive criticism is also welcome, I just don't want people trashing my story because they don't like the pairing or the direction it's going.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 2**

Forgetting him wasn't easy. Apparently, she had missed a seating chart rearrangement while she was in the feudal era and he was sitting right next to her. She tried to hide the poor state of her Japanese language book from the teacher, but the students around her certainly noticed. Yukio especially gave it an interested look. The girl next to her looked horrified, but he looked amused. She flipped the pages, hoping to dry them quickly, but the teacher didn't notice. When the bell rang, she stood and bowed as the teacher left, with the rest of the class.

"Higurashi, right?" called a baritone voice. Kagome turned, nervously, to face Yukio.

"Yes, um…"

"Yukio," he responded. She blushed. She didn't know him well enough to use his first name. After all, he hadn't used hers. "You haven't been here this week at all. Sensei said you were very ill."

"Yes, I have leukemia," Kagome answered unhappily. Who was this boy?

"That's too bad. You certainly don't _look_ sick."

"Um… thank you?" she responded, looking around for help. Unfortunately, Eri and Ayumi were just silently watching their exchange from across the room at Ayumi's desk. "So, you came from Kyoto?"

"Yes," he answered, his gaze unwavering. He kept trying to make eye contact and she kept avoiding it.

"Why did you transfer so late in the year?" Kagome asked, meeting his eyes. They were pale brown with golden and amber flecks, but they weren't like InuYasha's at all. This boy was totally human. Kagome relaxed a little as she realized she was suspicious about him being a youkai or hanyo. She knew there were very few still surviving in her time, but it would be just her luck to have one in her class, sensing the sacred jewel fragments around her neck.

"My father had to transfer cities because of his job. It's not the first time and I doubt it will be the last."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kagome said. "That must be hard for you."

"Oh, it doesn't really bother me. If I wanted to stay in one place, I could move in with my uncle back in Kyoto. He wouldn't mind." Kagome didn't know what to say. She was feeling rather shy, suddenly, realizing that she was talking to a normal human boy her own age. Not a cursed monk or lovesick wolf or hanyo or some foolish boy on a quest or a villager with a topknot. And not Hojo, who kept offering her strange, though thoughtful gifts in such a puppy dog-like manner. No, there was nothing canine about this boy. He had more of a feline air to him, like a tiger. Kagome welcomed the change.

"So you like traveling?" Kagome asked, finally. She realized that they had been staring each other in the eye for a few minutes now and she looked away, embarrassed.

"Yes. It's fascinating to see how people react to you when they know nothing about you."

"Don't you miss the friends you leave behind?"

"Who says I leave friends behind?" Yukio countered. "I can contact anyone I want to, any time I feel like it." When Kagome didn't say anything, he added, "That's what phones and e-mail is for."

"Oh, yeah," Kagome said. When she thought of leaving friends behind, she thought of Sango, Miroku and Shippo, who she would never see again if the well stopped working.

"So," he said, looking out the windows. "You are Hojo's girlfriend, correct?"

"No!" Kagome protested. "Why does everyone think that?" she snapped. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said when he drew back from her anger. He smiled and was about to say something when the bell rang. They stood when called to stand, bowed and sat back down. Kagome took out her civics book, stifling a groan. She wasn't bad at social studies, but right now, they were at a very boring part involving mainly statistics. It was mostly review for finals, which she had already studied, knowing she would probably make it back in time.

She couldn't help sneaking glances at Yukio. His hair needed to be brushed, his uniform was slightly too big and he didn't take a single note the entire class. She was rather surprised. She wondered how he planned to pass the final tests. Maybe he was a genius… or maybe he didn't care. He seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn't care. Kagome was so interested in trying to see what Yukio was writing on his desk that she almost didn't stand fast enough to bow to the teacher as he left. She sighed as she sat back down, cursing herself for being driven to distraction by a boy. Not that it was the first time that had happened.

"So, as I was going to say," Yukio said, leaning back over to her. "If you're not going out with Hojo, then you are probably free to see me this Saturday after school. Am I right?" Kagome blushed and considered the offer. It would serve InuYasha right if she went out with someone else. And the boy was fascinating. She was a little leery of him, though. He seemed like he might be a 'bad boy'. She had definitely had enough of that with InuYasha.

"I don't know…" Kagome said, sticking her pencil in her mouth and chewing on the end. "I don't really know you that well."

"Isn't that what a date is for? To get to know one another?"

"Well, I suppose so…"

"Good. Then I shall meet you for dinner at seven." He gave her instructions to an Italian restaurant downtown and she agreed. After she agreed, he stood up and stretched, reminding her once again of a cat, then walked across the room. The moment he was away, her friends rushed to her side.

"Kagome-chan, what were you talking about?" Eri asked.

"Did he ask you out?" Ayumi piped in.

"Yes," Kagome answered.

"Are you going on a date with him?" Eri asked as Ayumi asked:

"What about your other guy?"

"Yes and I'm mad at him," Kagome answered.

"Ooh, Yukio is so cute!" Eri said, peeking over at him.

"Yes, but so is Hojo," said Ayumi. "Why aren't you going out with him?"

"Well… to be honest, I haven't seen him today. Yukio just happened to ask first."

"Would you have gone out with Hojo?" Eri asked.

"I don't know. Hojo is very sweet, but… I don't think I like him like that. More as… just a friend," Kagome answered. "Do you two know anything else about Yukio?"

"No," they said together.

"Several of the girls have tried to get his attention, but he didn't seem interested. He seems a little shy," Ayumi said.

"Yeah, one girl asked him out and he ran away, pretending he had to get home really fast," Eri added.

"You knew he was pretending, because before that, he was walking slow and looking bored," Ayumi finished.

"How strange. He didn't seem shy at all with me," Kagome said.

"Maybe he just doesn't like girls who flirt?" Ayumi said.

"Maybe," Kagome said. "That would make sense." The bell rang and Ayumi and Eri scooted quickly back to their seats. Kagome took out her math book and prepared herself to get it right this time.

**_To be continued…_**

_Thanks to my reviewers! I really appreciate every review I get. If you're wondering where InuYasha is, just be patient, we'll get to him soon! _


	3. The Date

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. Oh, and constructive criticism is also welcome, I just don't want people trashing my story because they don't like the pairing or the direction it's going.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 3**

Kagome was very nervous about the date by Saturday. Now she was wondering if it was a good idea, considering that InuYasha and she had only had a fight because he wanted her to spend more time with him. He always got upset about her coming home, but he had never been upset about her doing her homework at breakfast before. She wondered what had gotten into him. Still, Yukio was incredibly cute…

She looked at her outfit in the mirror, glaring at her reflection. She had tried several different skirts, different shirts and was currently wearing a short dress. She flung it off and stood in her underwear, glaring at her clothing. Nothing looked right. She just felt so… unattractive. '_It's all InuYasha's fault_,' she decided. '_He's always saying how I'm not pretty. I never thought anything about it before him. Stupid InuYasha!_' She grabbed a navy shirt and matching skirt and smiled at herself in the mirror. She looked good, or at least better than she had in class. She looked at the time and squealed. It was almost five-thirty! She didn't want to be late, so she ran a brush through her hair one last time and trotted down the stairs.

"Do you have money for the bus?" Mrs. Higurashi called. Kagome stopped and checked her pockets. She groaned and turned to run back upstairs when her mother handed her the change.

"Thank you, Mama!" Kagome said, giving her mom a quick hug.

"I'm not sure I like you going out on a date with a boy I haven't met," Mrs. Higurashi said. "Why didn't you have him pick you up here?"

"I just didn't think about it, Mama. Don't worry about me, you know you can trust me!"

"It's not you that I'm concerned over. And don't tell me not to worry, that's my job," she said with a smile. Kagome grinned back and put on her shoes. She ran to the bus stop and just barely made it before the bus closed its doors. It was rather crowded, so she grabbed a hand bar and stood. She was too excited to sit anyway.

She walked to the restaurant nervously; glad she was ten minutes early. She stepped past a group of people smoking and into the restaurant proper. Yukio smiled at her and stepped forward, offering her a lovely purple flower. She took it with a smile and a blush, thinking about how it was the first traditional gift any boy had ever given her. She followed him to their table and sat down, surprised when he waited for her to sit before he did, himself. She glanced at the menu, not really certain what to order. She had never eaten at an Italian restaurant before.

"What do you like?" Yukio's voice startled her and she dropped the menu. She quickly retrieved it, blushing and smiling at him. He smiled back, his expression completely unchanging. It was patient, vaguely interested and intent. Unused to being looked at in such a way, Kagome's blush intensified and she hid in her menu.

"I'm not sure. I've never eaten here before," she answered honestly.

"Take your time, then," he answered. She breathed a sigh of relief when he shooed the waitress away, giving her time to think. Unfortunately, the words were blurring together beneath her thoughts.

'_I'm not used to anyone being so considerate! InuYasha would have ordered without me and told me to hurry up. Or ordered for me. Yukio is so strange. Eek! The waitress is back, think, Higurashi, think!_' Finally she spotted something that looked appetizing and pointed to the menu, uncertain how to pronounce the name of the food. The waitress looked, nodded and wrote it down.

"I'll have the chicken marsala with the zuppa di cavolo nero," Yukio ordered without missing a beat. Kagome guessed he must have eaten at these kinds of restaurants before. The waitress nodded and jotted it all down.

"I will be back soon with your soup," the waitress said, and then left them, taking the menus with her. Kagome watched her hiding place go away and then berated herself for wishing she could use it.

'_If you're so nervous about him, why are you on a date with him?_' she thought to herself. '_Why **am **I so nervous, anyway?_' She looked in his eyes. He was studying her carefully and she wondered if he was nervous at all. A small gasp escaped before she could stop it. He turned his head to the side curiously. '_That's what it is! His eyes! They remind me of Sesshomaru…_'

"Does something about me bother you?" he asked calmly.

"No," she said quickly. '_Not exactly,_' she amended in her mind.

"You can tell me. You won't offend me," he said.

"Well… see, there's this guy I was kinda seeing," she explained, wondering if she should be saying this, "who has an older brother. You sort of remind me of him."

"I take it that his brother is not your friend," he responded. Kagome was surprised. Not only was he not questioning her about the 'guy she was kinda seeing' but he had also immediately grasped that she didn't like Sesshomaru.

"No, he's kind of a jerk, actually," she said, then covered her mouth. '_Oops,_' she thought. '_Now he's going to think I'm saying he's a jerk!_' "Not that I'm saying you are! I just…"

"It's all right, Kagome. I may call you Kagome, yes?" Yukio smiled slightly. Kagome nodded, still trying to hide her blush. "I told you that I would not be offended."

"Yeah, I'm just not used to that," Kagome said. '_InuYasha would have had a hissy fit if I'd said he looked like a jerk._'

"I've been told that I'm very unusual," he said simply. "Did you like the flower?"

"Huh?" Kagome asked, startled by the sudden change of topic. She looked at the flower and smiled broadly. She had laid the flower on the table, still in its plastic wrapper. "Yes, very much," she answered.

"I am glad. I thought to get you a bouquet, possible roses, but then I decided that you might enjoy a less common gift. I don't like ordinary people, you see," he said. She looked up. "I knew you were special the moment I set eyes on you." Kagome blushed furiously.

"I'm not that special," she said, waving the compliment away with her hand.

"You are obviously an incredibly brave girl," Yukio said, his expression softening for the first time.

"What do you mean?"

"I have heard that you are very ill," Yukio said. "You yourself told me that you have leukemia. Yet you continue to live your life like any other girl. You don't let your sickness consume you. As soon as you are able, you are back in classes. You even agreed to this date with me, even though you just met me. I respect that. You don't spend all your time giggling and flirting, nor with your nose crammed in a book. Something tells me that you spend a lot more time outside."

"Okay, are you sure you haven't been spying on me?" Kagome said, laughing. "You're right. I do spend a lot of time outside. And I suppose I do some pretty brave stuff a lot of the time, although I don't consider just living life to be all that brave."

"Truly, Kagome, Thursday at school was the first time I saw you. You have a much healthier glow that I had expected, hearing our classmates talk. I had no idea that I was looking at the infamous Higurashi Kagome until you were sitting next to me in class. I thought you looked beautiful in the morning sunlight." Yukio was oblivious to the fact that Kagome was turning an interesting shade of pink and that her 'healthy glow' was getting brighter by the sentence. "And had hoped that you would not be a run of the mill, boring teenage girl."

"I don't see what's so bad about being average," Kagome protested.

"I can tell you wouldn't. Average is boring, Kagome. I don't see the point in dating a girl that I can find a carbon copy of sitting in the seat next to her. I detest hearing the same stories, girl after girl, all the same from different perspectives. I want to hear about your life, Kagome. Not the life of the invalid, but the life of the adventurer." His eyes seemed to pierce right through Kagome and for a moment, she was terrified that he knew about her time traveling.

"I don't know what you mean," she said.

"A girl lying in bed all the time, being poked and prodded would have two options," he explained, leaning forward. "She could lie and think of her illnesses, which would make her grow pale and thin. Or she could leave her bed and have adventures, even if only in her mind. I believe that you are the latter, Kagome. Even if they are not real, I wish to hear about your adventures. Do you travel the world, meeting strange people and learning foreign tongues? Do you stay in Japan and do ordinary things with your life? Do you look for priceless artifacts or go diving into the ocean?" Kagome sat with her mouth open.

"What an odd thing to ask," Kagome responded. "You want to know about my fantasies?"

"Yes," he said. "People can be much like living books," he said. "I've read thousands of books. But only managed to hear a few people's stories. I once dated a girl for six months because she was a pathological liar," he said. "She was fascinating. But then I had to move." He looked rather wistful.

"Did you love her?" Kagome asked, noticing the sad look in his eyes. She almost apologized for asking such a deeply personal question, but then decided it was no more personal than what he was asking her.

"Yes, actually," he answered candidly. "She was my first love, when I was fourteen. Her name was Tamiko." His eyes focused on Kagome. "I'm sorry. It's rude to talk about past girlfriends, isn't it?"

"I guess so," Kagome said, thinking about how InuYasha never talked about Kikyo, but got the same look in his eyes. A small flare of anger was pushed down quickly, since Kagome didn't want to go running away from this date, as she had with Hojo. She just stopped thinking about InuYasha entirely. "I don't know if I'm ready to talk about my fantasy life. I _did _just meet you," Kagome said.

"Of course," Yukio said, sitting back. He remained quiet while the waitress came and gave him his soup and Kagome her salad. After tasting the soup and smiling, he resumed conversation. "Then tell me about yourself. What music do you like?"

"Um… well, I really like Hamasaki Ayumi," she said, quickly swallowing her bite of salad. "What about you?"

"Stratovarius," he answered.

"I haven't heard of them…" Kagome said.

"They're Finnish, but they sing in English," he explained. "I like Hamasaki as well, Rurutia, and Suns Owl. And Deftones from America."

"Oh, I like Rurutia! And Evanescence from America," she replied.

"Oh, yes," he said. "Definitely one of the best from that country." They were quiet for a little bit as they finished their first course, then continued talking about music for a while. Kagome completely relaxed and enjoyed herself. It was nice talking about contemporary things with a modern boy. By the time the food got there, she had completely forgotten that she had come back to her own time in anger or even why. She was actually upset when she saw the check come and knew the date was almost over.

"I've had a lot of fun," Kagome said, frowning at the check as he pulled out more money than she realized the meal had cost. "Do you want me to pay for my half?" she offered, reaching for her purse.

"Don't even consider it," he answered. "I did not ask you out as a friend," he said. "And since I chose the place, time and everything, it is my pleasure to pay." Kagome sat back, completely awed. Her opinion of Yukio had totally changed. She was no longer nervous at all around him and his eccentricities actually made her like him even more. On top of everything else, he had been a total gentleman. On the other hand: the complete opposite of InuYasha.

A pang of guilt flickered through Kagome, but like the anger, she pushed it away. She let Yukio walk her to the bus and was surprised when he got on with her. Once again, there were no seats open, so Kagome grabbed a hand bar and felt a thrill when Yukio took the one behind her, but stepped up so that when the bus started moving with a jerk, she fell back against him. Her heart pounded and she stepped back into place, glancing back to see that he had done the same. She breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, she had been afraid he was going to lean against her for the entire trip.

Once again, she was surprised when he followed her off the bus. They watched the bus drive off and Kagome's heart was still pounding as she realized they were the only ones there at the stop and the moon was high in the sky. It was after nine and she had to get home, but she didn't want to. She let Yukio take her hand and walked aimlessly with him for a while. They ended up in a park and he sat down on a bench. She sat with him and looked up at the sky and the sliver of moon that was left. In just a week, there would be no moon in the sky. Kagome's mind started to drift back to InuYasha, but Yukio's arm across her shoulders returned it to the present.

She glanced up at him and was startled to see the almost amber glow in his eyes under the yellow lights of the park. His expression was intent and she knew he was about to kiss her. She turned her cheek quickly, suddenly feeling shy. She was out alone with a boy at night. She glanced back, expecting Yukio to be upset at her rejection, but he looked as peaceful as he had in the restaurant. He tugged her a little closer and she let her shoulder rest against his side. Gradually, she relaxed her head against his shoulder and watched the stars shimmering as clear as they ever were in her time.

"You should probably go home," Yukio said after a while. "I don't want your mother to worry."

"Oh, she's probably doing that anyway. It's only my second date, after all," Kagome said. Yukio glanced down at her in surprise.

"Only your second date?" he repeated. "Forgive me, but a pretty girl like yourself surely has had more dates than that." Kagome blushed furiously and Yukio smiled. "I see."

"See what?" Kagome asked, a little irritated by the smirk on his lips.

"Have you even been kissed before?" he asked. Kagome pushed away and stood up, angry.

"And how is that your business?" she demanded.

"Because I would like you to be my girlfriend," he answered, unfazed.

"Girlfriend?" Kagome repeated.

"Yes. And I think that if we are a couple, I should know how much… experience you have had. I would offer the same information in return, of course."

"I… I need to think about it," she stalled. Yukio stood and looked down at her with just his eyes, once again reminding her of Sesshomaru. A chill slid up her spine, but she pushed it back, reminding herself that she knew he was human. She could feel it in her core.

"Please let me know in class on Monday," he said. "I would really like to date you more. I had a lot of fun tonight."

"So did I," Kagome admitted, caught off guard. The look in his eyes didn't match his words. His voice sounded open and friendly, but his eyes were cold and distant. "If I say yes, then what?" Kagome asked. '_What are you saying?_' she asked herself. '_What about InuYasha?_' Kagome remembered all the times that InuYasha had left her for Kikyo and clenched her fist in anger. '_To hell with him,_' she thought angrily, surprising herself. '_He's then and this is now and I live here._' The feel of being wrapped in his arms, the memory of his eyes coming closer as he tried to kiss her filled her mind. '_But you love him._' The thought of his eyes again filled her, and then she remembered who he was looking at. Kikyo. Not her.

"Then I would like to meet with you after class each day. I could help you study and after, we could get to know each other," Yukio answered. Kagome heard the hope in the way his words came quickly and saw it in his eyes.

"Alright, then," she said. "I'll… I'll be your girlfriend."

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep on it?" he asked, turning his head to the side curiously.

"No. I… I just haven't done this before," she said. He nodded and took her hand again.

"May I kiss you?" he asked. Kagome blushed.

"Not tonight," she said, shyly. He nodded and smiled.

"Perhaps next time," he said absently. "Good-night, Kagome."

"Good-night, Yukio," Kagome said as he turned and walked away. She clutched her purse tightly and ran home as fast as she could, suddenly nervous about being out alone after dark. She ran up the steps to the shrine and stopped at the doorway, wondering if her mother had waited up. She pushed the door open and smiled at her mom when she turned to her.

"Did you have a good date, dear?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

"Yes, Mama," Kagome answered. "He was so polite… so different from InuYasha," she said. "And not goofy like Hojo."

"You are coming in rather late," Mama said, her forehead wrinkling. "I would appreciate it if you came home a little earlier next time."

"Of course, Mama. We just lost track of time talking," she said carefully. She didn't want to admit she had known what time it was and chosen to stay out later.

"It's okay tonight, but next time be home by nine."

"All right. Good-night, Mama."

"Good-night, Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi said with a smile.

**_To be continued…_**

_This isn't a short story, folks. I wouldn't be posting it in chapters if it was less than fifteen thousand words long. **This story is going to get very dark** before long. If you want the Inu/Kag purity to happen quickly, then I suggest you go read one of my oneshots while waiting for chapter updates! They need more attention, really they do!_


	4. Reactions

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 4**

Monday morning, when Kagome got to school, Yukio was waiting for her. She blushed when he walked up to her and took her hand. She fought the urge to pull away and smiled up at him. She glanced over at Yuka, who was staring at her in shock and waved. Eri walked up next to Yuka and looked over at where her friend was gawking and waved back to Kagome.

"Hey, my friend Yuka was sick last week. I want to go say hi to her," Kagome said, feeling odd explaining herself to a boy. Yukio smiled at her and released her hand, nodding.

"Of course, Kagome. And good morning, too."

"Oh! I'm sorry! Good-morning, Yuki-kun," she said, surprised at her bad manners, forgetting to greet him. She had just been so surprised by his hand in hers; her mind had totally wandered off. '_A real boyfriend,_' she thought, '_I have a real boyfriend._' Kagome smiled and waved as she ran over to her friends. Ayumi had just walked up and was asking what the other two were gaping at.

"Kagome! Is Yukio your boyfriend?" Yuka blurted. She gave a little cough and covered her mouth.

"Oh, Yuka, are you still not feeling well?" Kagome asked her friend, feeling bad.

"Answer her, Kagome!" Eri insisted.

"Yes, he is," Kagome answered. All three girls started at her with their mouths open, then looked at Yukio and then finally turned back to her. Eri and Yuka grabbed her arms and Ayumi looked a little confused.

"But what about that other guy?" Ayumi asked amidst the excited squeals of her friends. Yuka rolled her eyes.

"Kagome's obviously come to her senses about him."

"Yeah, wasn't he a jerk?" Eri added. "Controlling and violent?"

"So who cares about him?" Yuka finished with a nod. "Yukio is strange, but I've never seen him bullying anyone."

"But we don't know a lot about him," Ayumi said, looking concerned.

"What do we know about the other guy?" Yuka asked.

"Why hasn't Hojo been in school?" Kagome broke in after looking around for her previous suitor.

"Oh, his family went on a trip to Inashiki," Eri said. "Didn't you hear?"

"Yeah, his grandmother died," Ayumi said, casting her eyes down.

"How sad," Kagome said. "Poor Hojo." The other girls nodded, then the bell rang for morning meeting, and so they broke up their group.

* * *

True to his word, Yukio walked Kagome to the library after class to help her study. She was shocked. Once again, he had taken no notes and carried no books to class, but he knew all the material as well as the teacher. She was done with her homework faster than ever and before she knew it, found herself sitting across from him at WacDonald's, sipping a drink and laughing at one of his jokes. 

Time flew by and he was walking her home, hand in hand. At the bottom of the stairs to the shrine he looked down at her and met her eyes again. She smiled up at him and closed her eyes, leaning up. A moment later, his lips brushed hers and she felt a jolt of electricity and heat move through her body at the contact. She stepped back, smiling and was very happy to see the smile mirrored on Yukio's face.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Yuki-kun," Kagome said. Yukio smiled and nodded to her, then turned and walked off. Kagome watched him walk off until he was out of sight, and then turned towards home. A very angry looking Souta greeted her.

"What?" Kagome asked. Souta's fist was clenched and his lips pursed. Kagome stepped back in surprise. She had never seen him so angry.

"How could you do that to Inu no nii-chan?" he demanded.

"Is that what you're so mad about?" Kagome asked. "Look, Souta—I'm not going out with InuYasha. Yukio is my boyfriend now…"

"I don't like him," Souta yelled, then turned and ran into the shrine. Kagome sighed and decided to ignore him. Little brothers just didn't understand some things…

* * *

The next morning, Kagome woke up to InuYasha standing over her. She shrieked, startled, and he jumped back. 

"It's just me, stupid!" InuYasha yelled.

"What are you doing here?" Kagome demanded.

"I figured you had time to cool down," he answered, "and would be ready to come back and look for jewel shards."

"Well, you were wrong," she said, still angry with him and even madder at being called stupid. "And if I'm stupid it's because you never give me time to study!"

"Huh?"

"You can just go back to your time without me!" Kagome yelled. "I have finals all this week and I don't have time for the stupid quest right now!"

"Why do you have so many tests?" InuYasha demanded angrily. "Can't they wait?"

"No, they most certainly can not!" Kagome answered. "Now get out so I can get dressed!" InuYasha ducked out of her room as she threw a pillow at him and she got dressed quickly. She stormed out of her room, pulling on her backpack and glared at him as he followed her. "What?" she yelled, "Why are you following me?"

"I figured I could walk with you to school," InuYasha said, looking at her curiously. "Why are you so angry?"

"Don't you remember throwing my books in the river?" she shouted. "Right before finals! You're an inconsiderate, bad-tempered, violent creep!" she shouted. InuYasha took a step back, his ears flat against his head.

"A… creep?" he repeated. Kagome realized that she had gone too far when she saw the hurt in his eyes. Suddenly, Souta plowed into her as he ran past, knocking her over.

"Souta!" Kagome yelled, rubbing her stomach.

"Shut up!" he yelled, spinning in the doorway. "You're a selfish meanie!" he yelled at her, then turned and ran out of the house.

"Souta…" Kagome murmured; her own feelings hurt. To have her brother say such a thing, no matter how childish… She looked over at InuYasha, but he was gone. She stood up and ran out of the shrine, looking for him, but he was nowhere in sight. "What's got into him?" Kagome wondered aloud about her brother. She went back inside to grab her book bag and her shoes and walked slowly out this time, waving to her mother, who was outside, helping her grandfather with something in the yard.

Kagome had way too much time to think on her way to school and was almost in tears when a shadow fell across her path. She looked up, almost hoping to see InuYasha and was surprised to see Yukio. She looked around and realized that she was at school.

"Good morning," she said, trying to smile.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" he asked. She met his eyes and realized that a tear had just fallen. She almost dismissed it, but the concern in his gaze was too much. She wanted someone to talk to.

"My brother and I had a fight this morning," she confessed. "He's really mad at me and I don't understand why."

"Did he give you any clue?"

"Yes," she said, then took a deep breath. "He's mad because I'm dating you and not the guy he liked. Who was a jerk and always treated me bad and that's why I never went out with him but he would do a lot of nice things too, and Souta never saw him being a jerk and he really looked up to him and—" Kagome took a deep breath, then let it out.

"Should I not walk you home again?" Yukio asked.

"Well, my mom still wants to meet you, but…" Kagome bit her lower lip in concentration. "I think it would be better, for a few days at least, not to rub it in my brother's face."

"All right," Yukio said. "Whatever you think is best."

"Thank you, Yuki-kun," Kagome said, and then hugged him impulsively, quickly breaking away and making sure no teachers saw.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: Brief appearance, yes, but there was InuYasha -grins- Thanks to everyone who's reviewing, I really appreciate the feedback! _


	5. Feudal Reactions

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 5**

On Friday, after the last final, Kagome went out with Eri, Yuka and Ayumi to celebrate the end of the last of the year's tests. The girls invited Yukio along, but he said he had to get home early and said good-bye, but not before he kissed Kagome in front of her friends. She was so embarrassed, but at the same time, tingling from the kiss that her mind kept wandering.

"Hey, isn't that your little brother?" Eri asked. Kagome turned and sure enough, there was Souta, glaring at her. He hadn't spoken to her all week. She had finally broken down and cried in front of him and he had told her that it was her own fault. He stuck to his beliefs that she shouldn't be seeing someone behind InuYasha's back and that he didn't like Yukio. He said the guy gave him the creeps.

"I guess I have to go," Kagome said. The girls said their good-byes, and then Kagome walked over to her little brother, who turned and walked away when he was sure she was following. They walked back to the shrine in silence, Kagome having given up trying to speak with him. InuYasha was standing against the wall, watching her approach.

"Hi, Inu no nii-chan," Souta said as he walked by. InuYasha looked down at him curiously, but Souta didn't look at either of them.

"What's with him?" InuYasha asked. Kagome looked at him and sighed.

"He's mad at me."

"How come?" the hanyo asked curiously. Kagome shot him a glare and he looked away. "Are your finals done?"

"Yes," Kagome said, stepping into the house and taking off her shoes. InuYasha followed quietly behind.

"Will you be coming back?" InuYasha asked, still strangely quiet and subdued. Kagome looked back at him.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked. "You usually don't bother asking."

"I'm just trying not to be a creep," InuYasha muttered.

"Oh," Kagome said. She stared at the bag in her hand, letting the uncomfortable silence stretch for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" InuYasha's ears twitched.

"I shouldn't have said that to you. I was mad and nervous about my tests," Kagome explained.

"Well, according to the others, you're right," InuYasha said, looking down at her bag with her.

"No, you're not a creep, InuYasha," Kagome said. "You can be a jerk sometimes, but it's not like you're deliberately trying to ruin my life. You just picked a really bad time to pull that little stunt of yours."

"So you're not mad anymore?" InuYasha asked.

"No," Kagome agreed. InuYasha gave her a slight smile.

"So, let's go," he said, starting to get excited.

"Okay, but I have to come back tomorrow night," Kagome said.

"Why?" InuYasha asked. "You've already been gone over a week!"

"Because I have a date," she answered quietly.

"What's that?" InuYasha asked, confused.

"A date… with my…" Kagome took a deep breath. "Boyfriend." She braced for the explosion, but InuYasha just stared at her. He looked away after a few minutes.

"All right," he said. "Let's just go then." He walked out of the house without another word. Kagome was just confused. Whenever Koga came around, InuYasha went ballistic. She didn't understand his sudden passive behavior. She quickly followed behind him, calling good-bye to her mother, who waved. Souta came out of the house and watched her go until she was almost at the well house, then ran to her. He grabbed her arm.

"Be careful, nee-chan!" he said. "I'm sorry I've been mad at you!"

"It's okay, Souta, I understand," Kagome said.

"So did you break up with that creep?" Souta asked. Kagome flinched when InuYasha stopped at the well and looked back at them, a look of surprise on his face.

"No, I'm still going out with Yukio," Kagome said in a scolding voice.

"Oh." Souta said coldly, and then stepped back. "Well, whatever. Just be careful." With that, he turned and walked away.

"He's mad at you for your… boyfriend?" InuYasha asked, spitting out the last word. Kagome realized that InuYasha really was angry, but for some reason, he wasn't throwing a fit.

"Yeah," Kagome responded. InuYasha looked suspicious.

"Why?"

"He doesn't like him," Kagome said, half-truthfully. InuYasha's frown deepened, but rather than say anything, he just jumped down the well. Kagome took a deep breath and followed.

The day proved to be a very long one. InuYasha barely spoke to anyone and the tension in the air was as thick as glue. Sango and Miroku kept shooting furtive glances between Kagome and the hanyo, and then looking at each other in confusion. Shippo had tried to taunt InuYasha, but the hanyo had totally ignored him and the kit was now pouting from Kagome's shoulder.

"How did your tests go, Kagome-chan?" Sango finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I think I did pretty well, actually. I had a new study partner," Kagome stopped for a moment when she saw InuYasha's ears twitch in agitation. "They were easier than usual, since I didn't have any distractions."

"Sorry I'm such a distraction," InuYasha growled.

"It's not just you, you know!" Kagome said. "It's hard to study with demons attacking and searching for the shards and—"

"Having creeps throw your books in the river," InuYasha finished.

"I said I was sorry for calling you a creep, InuYasha!" Kagome shot back.

"Is your boyfriend your new study partner? Isn't that distracting?" InuYasha hissed.

"Yes, he is and no, it's not!" Kagome snapped.

"You have a boyfriend, Kagome?" Miroku asked, looking surprised.

"Yes," Kagome answered, hating how guilty it made her feel to say that in front of InuYasha. '_It's not like he ever asked to be my boyfriend,_' she thought unhappily.

"What's his name?" Sango asked.

"Yukio," InuYasha answered. Kagome blushed at the way the hanyo said his name. There was a definite threat in his voice.

"It's your own fault, InuYasha," Shippo said, having dropped to the ground. "If you had wanted Kagome, you should have—" Shippo realized his mistake when InuYasha stopped, but kept talking until he turned. A moment later, he was howling on the ground, three lumps growing on his head. Kagome picked him up quietly and glared at InuYasha, not having anything to say. She didn't want to chase him off and she knew how she felt when Kikyo came around, so she didn't say a word.

"Just drop it, Shippo," Kagome said when the fox started to open his mouth again. He looked up at her in surprise and she shook her head a little. He sighed, but did as she asked. It was a long, tense day, night and next day. It didn't help when Kagome said she had to go back and get ready for her date. InuYasha had stalked off into the forest at her words and not even looked back.

"Are you sure you should leave him tonight, Kagome?" Miroku asked.

"Huh? Why?" Kagome asked before she looked up at the sky and remembered. "It's the new moon…" she murmured. "I'll try to be back before he turns human," Kagome said to her friends. "Watch out for him." They nodded and she ran back to the well.

**_To be continued…_**


	6. Lies

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

_**A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! Two chapters today as a holiday gift!**_

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 6**

The date had run longer than she expected and while it was still not after nine when she got back to the shrine, it had been night long enough she knew InuYasha might have already transformed. She ran to fill her bag, having told Yukio she had doctor tests for the next few days and might miss school. He had asked if she wanted him to visit after school, but she told him it was out of town. She told her grandfather the same thing so that he wouldn't contradict her story to her friends.

She was about to jump down the well when Yukio stepped into the well house behind her. She froze, one knee on the well and her backpack slung over her shoulders nearly unbalancing her.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Kagome looked down the well and slid back to the ground, trying to think of an excuse for her behavior.

"What are you doing here?" she asked back, deciding to evade the question. He held out her purse and she blushed.

"You left it at the restaurant when you left so quickly," he said. "I saw you running here and just wanted to give it back. Were you going to jump down in that old well?"

"I… uh… thought I dropped my purse down there," she finished lamely. His eyes narrowed.

"I think that's the first time you've ever lied to me," he said. Kagome's heart sped up. He walked up next to her and she took the purse from him, feeling guilty. He glanced down the well and she had an idea.

"Well, it's silly," she said.

"What is?" he asked.

"I wasn't going to jump, I was going to climb down," she said, tugging on the ladder. "It's where I go when I want to think and be alone."

"You're lying again." He said. "Please stop that."

"Huh? How can you tell?" Kagome asked.

"I can always tell when I'm being lied to by someone I know," he said. "I dated a pathological liar for six months, remember? It taught me what to look for."

"Oh," she said. She wasn't angry at being caught lying. "You can't tell anyone," she said, making a decision.

"I do not tell secrets," Yukio responded, looking vaguely insulted.

"This isn't just an ordinary well," she told him. "It's a portal, to feudal Japan." She looked him in the eye and dared him to call her a liar now.

"I see," he said looking down it again. "So if I were to jump in—"

"Nothing would happen," she said. "I'm the only one who can go through."

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," she answered. "Souta tried once and couldn't get through. It may have something to do with my being the reincarnation of a priestess who lived fifty years before the time it drops me in."

"So that's where you go when you're supposed to be sick," he said.

"You believe me?" she asked. His eyes slid over to her.

"Of course," he said. "I knew you weren't sick. There is no sign of illness beyond your disappearances. Quite the contrary, you always look very healthy all the time." He turned to face her. "I assumed there had to be something very strange happening if your family was lying for you as well."

"I always wonder why no one notices," Kagome said.

"Is that where your other boyfriend is?" he asked.

"He's not my boyfriend!" she protested angrily. "I told you, I never went out with him because he's a jerk who always treats me bad."

"Why does your little brother know him, then?"

"He can go through the well. He's the only one from the other time who can." Kagome answered.

"And I assume you don't know why he can, either."

"No," Kagome said.

"Why were you rushing back?" he asked and Kagome looked outside.

"Because I said I'd be back as soon as my date was over," she said.

"What do you do there?" he asked.

"Search for shikon no kakera and try to hunt this horrible youkai called Naraku," she answered, both nervous about what she was saying and relieved as well.

"Shards?" he asked. "The shikon no tama was broken?"

"You've heard of it?" Kagome asked.

"I told you that I've read thousands of books. I suppose I should have mentioned that many of them were scrolls."

"Well, yeah, it was. And… I'm the one who broke it," she said, embarrassed. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "It was an accident! And that's why I have to go back—we have to fix it."

"Then you should return," he said. "May I watch?"

"I guess," she said, slinging her leg across the lip of the well. He leaned in and kissed her.

"For luck," he said as he pulled back. "Safe journey."

"Thank you," she whispered. "I'll see you later." She let go of the well and floated for a few moments before she touched down on the other side, wondering if it was a good idea for her to tell him. '_Well, what's done is done,_' she thought. She pulled herself out of the well and went looking for InuYasha. It didn't take long for her to find everyone sitting around the campfire, except InuYasha. He was sitting off by himself on a cliff. So she waved at her friends, who waved sleepily back and trotted over to him.

"Hi," she said as she approached.

"What are you doing back?" he asked without turning around. She sat next to him. He turned so she couldn't see his face and she was left staring at his black hair.

"I just had to go back for my date. I told him I wouldn't be back for several days," Kagome answered.

"Why bother coming back tonight? You could have waited until morning." InuYasha's voice sounded strange and Kagome wanted to see his face. She glanced back at the fire to see that Shippo was curled up asleep against Kirara, then wrapped her arms around her knees and looked out at the moonless night sky.

"Did you not want me to come back?" Kagome asked.

"What do you care what I want?" he asked. Kagome saw his shoulders were trembling and she debated going to the fire against staying and talking. She had a feeling it was way too soon for him to be okay with her dating someone else.

"If it was going to bother you for me to date someone, why didn't you ever ask me to be your girlfriend?" she blurted.

"Leave me alone," he whispered. "Just go away. I don't care where. I don't want to see you tonight," he said, his voice deep and rough. Kagome's heart was screaming at her.

'_Yes, you like Yukio. Yes, he's fun to kiss. But you don't feel like this around him! If he ever said something like this, you would dump him and move on. But InuYasha said it, so…_' Kagome tried to ignore her mind, but it was too loud and persistent. "Damn you," she hissed at InuYasha, then rose to her feet and ran back down the hill. She stopped at the campfire and sat down next to Sango, wiping her eyes impatiently.

"Are you okay, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked. Kagome shook her head and buried her face against her knees.

"I just need some sleep," she whispered.

"Why are you seeing someone else, Kagome?" Miroku asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Kagome said, rolling onto her side. "I've had this conversation enough times with Souta. He hasn't spoken to me more than he had to since I started dating Yukio. I shouldn't have to explain myself! It's not like InuYasha's ever…" Kagome hiccoughed. She held her breath until the sob passed, squeezing her eyes closed tightly. "Yukio is my first boyfriend," she said firmly. "I shouldn't have to explain why I'm seeing him."

"Forgive me, Kagome, but we only learned of him today. I am merely curious," Miroku responded, sounding a little offended.

"I'm sorry, Miroku," Kagome said, not moving from her ball on the ground. "You're right, I shouldn't snap at you." She was quiet for a few minutes. "I'm seeing him because he asked. Because he listens when I talk and he doesn't call me stupid or unattractive and he treats me… like I matter." No one said anything to Kagome's words, but she knew they heard. She knew they understood. She even knew that InuYasha was standing right next to her, listening.

She just didn't know if he really cared.

**_To be continued…_**


	7. Misunderstandings

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 7**

Their relationship was very strained over the next few weeks. Twice, InuYasha lifted Kagome onto his back to simply drop her after a few steps, as if remembering she was wearing something dirty. Kagome fought several urges to embrace InuYasha or take his hand. Her feelings for Yukio didn't grow any, even when she saw the great grades she made by studying with him. He was someone who could give her a future, someone who never made her cry, listened to her and didn't moon over lost love. But there was something missing…

InuYasha became more distant and cold with her, rather than moving on. Several times, he ran off on his own and nearly got killed after she came back from a date. Vacation had started for her and she spent more time in the feudal era than her own time. She came back for dates with Yukio and to enroll in high school. She tried to explain to everyone that high school wasn't free and she would have to have better attendance than she had in middle school, but InuYasha scoffed and said she was just making excuses to spend more time with her boyfriend.

Finally, one day, it all came crashing down. She had been getting pressured from Yukio to celebrate her sixteenth birthday with him by taking the last step in the relationship. She kept trying to explain that sixteen was still too young, but her body kept telling her differently. It didn't help when she was hanging out with Ayumi, Eri and Yuka and Ayumi confessed that she had gone all the way the night before. They had all been shocked, since Ayumi was the youngest of them, having only just celebrated her fifteenth birthday. But she was also the most romantic and was very certain she had found 'the one.' Kagome seriously doubted it, but didn't burst her friend's bubble.

In the feudal era, InuYasha was excluding her left and right and one day, when Koga dropped by to see how she was doing, he walked away and dropped a comment that finally made Kagome understand what he had been thinking.

"Forget it Wimpy Wolf, even _I'm _not human enough for her. She's got some mortal boy in her own world for that." InuYasha didn't look back as he said these words, but Kagome heard the tone. It was the same one he had used when he told her to leave him alone on his human night.

'_Is that why he thinks I'm going out with Yukio?_' Kagome wondered.

"Is that true, Kagome?" Koga asked. "You have… another boyfriend?" He looked hurt, too, as he stepped back, dropping her hand.

"What are you talking about?" Kagome yelled at InuYasha's back. "It has nothing to do with you being human or not!" Kagome turned to Koga. "Excuse me, Koga-kun, but I need to talk to InuYasha… _alone_," she stared around at everyone, her blood boiling with her own hurt and anger. She had never forgotten why she started dating Yukio in the first place. Everyone gave them privacy, but InuYasha tried to walk away. "Where are you going?" Kagome demanded.

"I don't want to talk to you," he replied.

"Well that's too bad, because I want to talk to you!"

"Leave me alone," InuYasha said, and then crouched to leap away. The moment his feet left the ground, Kagome used the word she had avoided for two and a half weeks.

"Osuwari." Kagome watched InuYasha slam face first into the ground.

"Damnit, why did you do that?"

"Because you're not listening to me!"

"I told you that I don't want to talk!"

"Do you really care so little about me?" Kagome demanded. "Because you keep saying you don't care about me, but then you treat me like I'm dirty when I start seeing someone else. I only started dating him because you made me feel like all I was good for was hunting jewel shards!" InuYasha said nothing, but pulled himself to his feet and kept his back to her. "I kept waiting for you to say _one _kind word to me. _One _thing that let me know you wanted _me _and not just the damn shikon no tama!" InuYasha turned when she cursed.

"Well it's too bad that it's the jewel I want, then, isn't it?" InuYasha said. Kagome closed the distance between them and slapped him. He touched his cheek in pain and she buried her face in her hands, trying to stop the tears that were forcing their way down her cheeks. She saw his expression soften and she turned away. She refused to let her tears turn the argument, but she couldn't get them to stop falling. His hand wrapped around her upper arm and he pulled her around roughly, shaking her hands away from her face.

"Why don't you care?" Kagome whispered. "Don't you know that I care about you?"

"Kagome…"

"Everything I've done was for you. I could have stopped coming, let you find the rest of the jewel without me. It would have made my life so much easier. But I stayed. You keep running hot and cold, acting like you like me one minute, then shoving me away the next. You go to Kikyo and I know you still love her and it makes me mad because I love you, but I don't stop you. I try to understand." Kagome didn't get a chance to say anything else, because InuYasha pulled her to his chest.

"I hated you when you told me you were seeing someone else," he whispered. "I wanted to kill him and tell you never to do anything so stupid again. But I remembered what you said to me—how you called me a violent creep. I figured you hated me already and I had ruined any chance we had of being together. I _do_ care about you Kagome, which is why I can't stand you right now. I feel like you ripped my heart out of my chest." He shoved her away and Kagome's breath was knocked out of her when she hit the ground. "I thought you understood me. I thought you knew that I loved you." He turned away.

"So you don't anymore?" Kagome asked, no longer bothering to fight the tears.

"How could I not?" he whispered. "And that's why I hate you. I don't think it's safe for you to stay with us anymore. You should go home to your own time because I _can't_ share you. I can't—" InuYasha's voice broke and Kagome's heart tore with it. "I can't stand the smell of him on you when you come back. I want to hurt you. I want to hurt him. I want to just take you and not let anyone else near you ever again." He looked at her, brushing his bangs out of his eyes, which were shining wet. "And you make me say all these things. Why? Does it make you feel good to know how badly you've hurt me? Are you as vengeful as Kikyo?"

"No," Kagome said. "All I want is you, InuYasha. I don't love Yukio. I thought he was everything I wanted, but I don't feel anything for him. Not in my heart, at least."

"Then why have you stayed with him?" InuYasha asked, turning away to discreetly wipe his face.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Kagome asked.

"Yes. I need to know. What does he have that I don't?"

"He treats me like a human being and not a tool," Kagome said. "Even Koga, who says such nice things about me, just sees me as a shard detector in the end."

"Then get rid of him," InuYasha growled. "If you really want me, go back there right now and end it. Because if this was about getting my attention: you have it. If it was about getting me to admit I love you, you have that, too." He knelt in front of her. "But if it's more with him, then go back and never return."

"All right," Kagome said, getting to her knees. InuYasha stood and held out his hand. She took it. He pulled Kagome to her feet, then leaned in and kissed her. Kagome didn't push him away this time. She gave into him completely. It was as if a piece of a puzzle that had been mislaid suddenly slid into place. Everything felt _right_—_this _was what it was supposed to feel like to kiss someone. She didn't feel like she was touching the ground anymore—it was as if the whole world had become the trip down the well.

When he stepped back, Kagome sighed happily. A large weight had just been lifted from her shoulders and chest and she was so happy to see InuYasha's eyes without the anger and pain that he had been projecting lately. Still, a nagging thought filled her head and she had to spoil the moment by asking.

"You said you hate me…" Kagome said. InuYasha's eyes hardened again and he looked away, his ears going back. "Can this really fix that?"

"If I say no, will you go back to him?" InuYasha asked.

"No," Kagome said. "I'm never leaving you again, InuYasha. It was a mistake." His ears perked forward and he glanced at her warily. After a minute, he stepped forward and cupped her chin in his hand.

"Then yes, it will fix it."

"Just like that?"

"I told you, Kagome. You have my attention, my love… my trust. If you say you'll stay with me, I believe you." His ear twitched back on 'love' and a blush spread across his cheeks, but he didn't look away. Kagome felt herself blushing and closed her eyes as he moved closer again. She wrapped her arms around him as he kissed her this time and forgot about everything else.

**_To be continued…_**


	8. Phone Calls

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 8**

Kagome looked at the phone in her hand and tried to dial it one last time. She slammed it down again. '_This isn't the right way to break up,_' she thought. '_But do I really want to do it on the date tonight?_' She walked upstairs to her room and looked at herself in the mirror. She was still blushing at the thought of InuYasha's embrace. She had felt no hesitation, no doubt and no regret. She was always doubting herself around Yukio, always pushing him away and always hesitating. '_But what if that's just because I'm in love with InuYasha? Did I ever give him a real chance?_' She thought about how well he had treated her, but while kissing him made her heart beat faster and his hand under her shirt made her body react, she didn't get excited to see him. She never had the urge to run into his arms and really had no desire to go any further with him than she had. With InuYasha, she had wanted him to take the next step almost desperately. Just from a kiss.

"Kagome, telephone! It's Eri!" Mrs. Higurashi's voice called to her from down the stairs. Kagome jogged down and took it, thanking her mother.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Kagome-chan! I tried to call yesterday, but your grandfather said you were at the gynecologist?"

"What?" Kagome exclaimed, getting angry. '_Wasn't gout and arthritis and diabetes enough? That's getting personal!_' she thought angrily.

"You haven't done something with Yukio have you?" Eri asked, sounding concerned.

"No, why?" Kagome answered.

"Oh, no, it's not cervical cancer is it?" Eri exclaimed through the phone. Kagome's eye twitched.

"No. I thought I felt a breast lump," Kagome quickly improvised. "But it turned out to be nothing."

"Oh, good. I was worried. Listen, there's something I need to tell you about Yukio."

"What?" Kagome said.

"I found out why he moved from his last school."

"He said his dad got a job transfer or something," Kagome said.

"Yeah, but he _had _to get the transfer. Apparently, Yukio was kicked out of his last school."

"Why?" Kagome asked, wondering why Yukio never told her that.

"I'm still trying to find out," Eri said. "Yuka said she heard it was a violation of his school's dating policy."

"Well, I know that he was dating a girl at his last school. Except I think he said she was in high school. Maybe that's it. A lot of middle schools don't allow dating at all."

"That might be it," Eri agreed. "Or maybe a public display of affection. Still, I thought I would let you know, in case you didn't."

"Well, it's not going to matter anymore anyway."

"What? Are you breaking up with him?"

"Yeah," Kagome said. "I'm going back to that guy from before."

"Why, Kagome? I'm sure it wasn't something serious at his last school! He's such a nice guy. Not as nice as Hojo, of course, and he's kinda weird, but—"

"I just don't love him," Kagome interrupted before Eri went into a Hojo-is-great spiel. "And I do love that guy," she said. There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"You really love him?" Eri said.

"Yeah."

"Has he said it yet?"

"Yes," Kagome said. "And he kissed me last night."

"You cheated on Yukio?" Eri said, incredulous.

"Well, I was kinda cheating _with _Yukio before. I mean, we weren't definite or anything, but he's shown me over and over that he cares. I was just mad at him for throwing my books in the river."

"Oh, is _that _what happened to them? Why did he do that?"

"To get my attention," Kagome said, realizing the answer herself.

"Well, I know you'll do what you want to, no matter what I say. Just be careful. Yukio really seems attached to you."

"I know. I heard about what happened with him and Hojo," Kagome said. Hojo had been avoiding her ever since Yukio asked her out and she finally found out it was because Yukio had told him to stay away from her. Kagome had felt so bad that she tracked Hojo down and apologized, but he had barely listened and then left, obviously mad at her. She couldn't blame him. She had blown him off for almost an entire year and then started dating Yukio the first time she met him.

"Well… good luck then."

"Thanks, Eri. I'll talk to you later," Kagome said.

"Okay. Bye!"

"Bye!"

**_To be continued…_**

_**A/N:** Some people thought I said that Kagome had sex with Yukio. I want to be perfectly clear on this: Kagome is not like that. She didn't have sex with some boy she's only known for a month and a half, certainly not with one she has been uncertain about her feelings for. Yes, Yukio got to second base, he's pushy._

_Reviewer responses (I'm going to address some of y'all that have been reviewing so faithfully):_

_**Goddess Anjanee**__: You faithfully review each of my stories, each chapter and I wanted to say thank you! As for answers to your questions... they will come soon enough!_

_**Shooby**__: If you're looking for fluff, alas, I'm not the right place. There will be fluffy moments, yes, but they are few and far between, especially for the next few chapters. Tension, angst and confusing original character: that's this story!_

_**bobalina**__: Yes, dark soon. Yukio's revenge? You might say that... As for the voices, alas, I am unable to stop them. Just don't do what they say and you'll be okay. Unless they say to review. Then they're right on track! XD_

_**wisniewska**__: Why do I stop when it's getting good? To keep you reading, of course!_

_**Nomadgirl66**__: She told Yukio about the well because he knows how to get what he wants from people and I think that the pressure of keeping a secret like that weighs on you until you secretly want to get caught and tell someone, so it's not as heavy anymore._

_**InuandKagforever**__: You may want to prepare your tummy--some serious angst is about to hit the fan and our poor couple is about to go on a big rollercoaster ride just trying to __**be **__a couple._

_Well, don't want the responses getting out of hand, so just a quick thank you to everyone else who reviews, I read them all and appreciate them all. One of the highlights of my day is opening my inbox to see new reviews in it! I do love entertaining people and you guys have been a great audience! This story will have many more chapters and i'll try to keep them coming fairly quickly._


	9. Betrayal

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**_Warning! _**_This is the dark chapter I alluded to. It contains non-consensual material, violence and dark psychological themes. _

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 9**

Kagome stood at the park, where she had asked Yukio to meet her rather than the movie theatre. She was the only one there for a long time, since she had come very early to figure out how she wanted to say it. Finally, he stepped into view, walking towards her and watching his feet. When he looked up, his face was unreadable and his eyes were dark. He looked rather threatening, with the red ends of his black hair standing out against his pale skin like blood. She was unhappily reminded of Jakotsu for a moment and she fought the chill that swept over her.

"You asked to meet here?" Yukio asked, stopping a short distance away. He looked suspicious. '_Well, he's right to be, isn't he?_' she thought nervously. She was here to break up with him.

"I can't see you anymore," she said, using the blunt approach he seemed to prefer.

"I see," he said.

"I'm sorry," Kagome said. "I didn't think it was right to tell you over the phone," she added when the silence stretched on.

"It's the guy on the other side of the well, isn't it?" he asked.

"No, Yukio. I mean, that's part of it," she added when his eyes narrowed. "But it's really that I don't have any feelings for you. I like you and I enjoy being with you…"

"But you don't like me '_like that_,'" he said, mockingly. Kagome took a step back.

"No, I don't," she said, forcing herself to stand her ground. "I'm sorry."

"No, you aren't," he said. "But you're going to be."

"Huh?" Kagome was becoming frightened now. Yukio's hair had fallen to completely obscure his face and his voice had deepened with emotion.

"Do you know what my name means, Kagome?" he asked, not looking up.

"No…" she said, wondering what names had to do with anything.

"It means 'gets what he wants.' I get what I want, Kagome." Yukio finally looked up at her and she gasped. There was a decidedly red tint to his eyes, the gold flecks completely changed. She knew it was a trick of the light, but it still scared her. "What I want is you, Kagome. And I will have you." He grabbed her wrist suddenly and pulled her close. "Did you think I was just some game you could play, to make that other guy jealous?"

"No," Kagome protested and tried to pull back. "Let me go, Yukio!" His grip tightened and he pressed his lips to hers, grabbing the back of her head when she tried to fight him. She slapped him as soon as she was able to pull back and he slapped her back. Shocked, angry and scared, Kagome tried to run. Yukio stopped her by grabbing her hair and pulling her back.

"If this is our last time together, I wanted it to be sweet," he said. "But if you won't cooperate, that doesn't mean I'll stop. I _will_ have you." His hand wrapped around her throat and he held her from behind. She struggled, but he was much stronger than he looked. "Things can go one of two ways tonight, Kagome. We can make love…" Kagome shrieked, but his other hand clapped over her mouth, cutting it short. "Or I can fuck you." He spun her around, narrowly missing being kicked in the leg. "Either way, I get what I want."

"No!" she screamed. Kagome started fighting seriously then, realizing that he meant what he was saying. She kicked at him and he hit her again. This time, he didn't let go and he shook her until her teeth rattled. He dragged her off into a copse of trees and she fought with all the strength she had built shooting her bow, fighting youkai and traveling for several hours a day, but it was no use. Yukio wasn't a youkai, so she couldn't use any of her sporadic holy powers against him. She had no one here to help her and he was obviously no weakling himself.

He took the time to carefully remove her shirt without ripping it, hitting her on the side of her head so that she bit her tongue and the world swam when she struggled. She couldn't believe this was happening and in her mind, she was desperately waiting for InuYasha to save her, even though she knew he wasn't coming. She had told him that she could do this on her own. She tried to scream for help, but Yukio would just squeeze her throat or slap her again. Finally, irritated by her incessant attempts to call for help, he balled up her shirt and shoved it into her mouth until it was choking her.

The entire time it happened, she kept trying to convince herself that it wasn't. She fought tooth and nail, fist and foot, but Yukio was bigger, stronger and just as determined. Kagome grew weak from fighting and from being struck in the head repeatedly and her cries were feeble by the time the boy was done with her. The worst was when he leaned in and kissed her gently as he pulled the gag out of her mouth.

"You are beautiful, Kagome. I'll miss you," he said.

"Fuck you," she choked out.

"Once was enough for me," he said. "Good-bye." He stood up, adjusted his clothing and threw her back her shirt after using it to clean himself off. Kagome had curled into a fetal position and was crying her eyes out. She didn't see or hear him walk away. She lied there for a long time, hoping someone would find her and help her. But as the night grew late, she knew she was alone and no one was coming for her. So she put herself back in her bra and put her shirt back on. She crawled to her knees, in more pain than she had ever felt in her life.

Kagome threw up. She heaved until she was empty, and then fell back into a kneeling position. She wiped her mouth with her shirt. She was going to throw it away when she got home anyway. She forced herself to get shakily to her feet and cried out when she tried to take a step. She glanced down at the blood running down her leg and nearly fell again as a wave of vertigo gripped her.

She made her legs work, hissing past the throbbing between them, taking one step after another. The shrine came into view so slowly it seemed like she would never get home. She kicked her shoes off at the door and opened it. She walked quickly past her mother, refusing to answer her questions and ran up the stairs, flinching at the pain each step gave her. She got into her bedroom and ripped her clothes off, throwing them into the corner. She stepped over to her mirror and looked at herself in it. Her face was red from being slapped over and over and her eyes were swollen from crying.

Thunder sounded overhead and she realized for the first time that she was soaking wet. She didn't remember it starting to rain. She couldn't remember why there was mud all over her knees. She needed a bath, but she heard her mother on the other side of her door and she didn't want to talk. So she grabbed a pair of pajamas, yanked them on and threw herself into bed.

"Kagome-chan, what's wrong?" her mother called from the other side of her door.

"I broke up with Yukio," Kagome called back, wanting to be alone. She didn't want her mother to know how stupid she had been. She didn't want anyone to know what had happened. She just wanted to take a bath and then go to sleep and never wake up.

"Can I do anything?" her mother asked.

"No," Kagome snapped, the tears springing to her eyes again. "I just want to be alone."

"If you need to talk, you know where I am," her mother said.

"Thanks, Mama," Kagome called back.

"I love you, Kagome," her mother called.

"Love you, too," Kagome called back and covered her face with her pillow, suddenly hating the colors in her room. She turned over and held the pillow tightly to her face, wishing she could just suffocate. '_If I had never gone out with him in the first place, this never would have happened,_' Kagome thought. '_I should have just waited for InuYasha to come around._' Shame and guilt mixed in her until she thought she was drowning in it and finally she drifted into the oblivion of sleep.

**_To be continued…_**

_A/N: (after school special warning) If you or someone you know is the victim of rape, the first thing you should know is that it is not your or his/her fault. **It is never the victim's fault**, no matter the circumstances or what anyone might say and you have the right to say no at any point and have your 'stop' respected, no matter when or what gender you are. At least, in the United States. I would love to say anywhere in the world, but what is a human right isn't always a legal right. FACT: **OVER 60 percent **of rapes in the US (which has the highest percentage of reported rapes in the world) are NOT reported officially. Many victims of the crime are attacked by people they know and trust. While the US has 20 times the amount of rapes reported in Japan, the rate in Japan is low because **the police do virtually nothing**. Men can get off on the smallest technicality. However, it is still important, wherever you are, to report the crime, **immediately**, and seek medical and psychological help as soon as possible. Don't keep silent about it, that's what allows those appalling statistics to continue and there is no reason why you should have to suffer alone or in silence. If you are in the United States, you can call _**1-800-656-HOPE**._ If you need any further information, feel free to contact me and, if I am able, I will get it for you._


	10. Damage

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**_Note: _**_It's perfectly okay to not like that Kagome was raped. It wasn't meant to be sexy or fun—this isn't that kind of fic. __**Warning! **Dark psychological themes continue in this chapter._

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 10**

InuYasha couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned all night, overwhelmed with the feeling that something was wrong with Kagome. Finally, just before dawn, he jumped down out of his tree and left everyone behind to go to the well. He didn't hesitate, he jumped through it and sprung out the moment his feet touched the earth. He ran to the main house and leapt to Kagome's window.

He stepped into the room and immediately knew he was right to come. He could smell Kagome's blood. He stepped over to where she was sleeping and looked down at her, trying to see where she was injured. Her eyes were puffy and red and as he watched, a tear slid down her cheek. He smelled blood in her hair and noticed that it was matted and filthy. Her pillow was wet from rainwater and tears. There was a trace of brown against the pink and he recognized the smell as blood. But there wasn't much there, certainly not as much as he was smelling. He started looking around her room and found the pile of clothes. He lifted the soft blue skirt and saw the blood dried all over it.

But there was another smell, too. InuYasha felt the growl in his chest rise to his throat and he clutched the material in anger, tearing holes in it with his claws. He turned back to Kagome, his heart pounding in rage and pulled the blanket off of her. There was a stain against her yellow pajamas. Mud at the knees, blood… His vision swam red for a moment and he shook, trying not to grab Kagome and shake her awake.

"Help me, InuYasha…" Kagome murmured in her sleep, her tears coming faster. "Help…" His rage disappeared in an instant and he knelt next to her and brushed the hair off her cheek.

"Kagome?" he asked softly. Her eyes flew open and she screamed, striking out at him. He fell back and backpedaled until his shoulders hit the wall, but she kept screaming. "Kagome!" he yelled back, terrified. He didn't know what he had done to provoke this kind of a reaction. She was now curled against the wall, her knees against her chest and crying loudly.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, over and over.

"I'm not!" InuYasha screamed over her cries. "Kagome! What happened?" he yelled, but she just kept screaming. Her door flew open and Kagome's mother stood there, looking around wildly.

"What did you do to her?" she shouted when her eyes fell on InuYasha.

"Nothing!" InuYasha yelled. Kagome was now just sobbing violently, clutching her blanket to her chest. "She was having a nightmare and I just said her name to wake her up! Then she went crazy!"

"Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi yelled, sitting on the bed next to her. She grabbed Kagome's shoulders and the girl screamed louder, shoving her away.

"No, no, no!" Kagome screamed.

"What's happened to you, Kagome?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, scooting back on the bed so she wasn't in the line of fire form Kagome's flailing fists. "Go back to bed, _now_, Souta!" she yelled and Souta, who had just poked his head in, turned and ran away, not used to his mother raising her voice to him.

"What did he do to you?" InuYasha growled. "I'm going to fucking kill him." Kagome's cries finally stopped and she met InuYasha's eyes for a moment. He saw the slight bruises on her face and his vision faded to red again. He turned to the window, intent on searching out the boy who had hurt his Kagome and kill him.

"Osuwari!" she yelled and he hit the ground. He was now confused and in pain, but the bloodlust had faded somewhat. "You… can't… kill… him," she sobbed, taking great, gasping breaths. "He's human… and this… isn't the… feudal era."

"I'm calling the police," Mrs. Higurashi said, standing up.

"No, Mama, please," Kagome said, reaching for her mother's arm. "Please, they'll make me tell them what happened and I don't want to say, I don't want to relive it, I just want to forget."

"You can't do that, Kagome," her mother said. "You have to file a report against him. He's not getting away with… raping my little girl." Mrs. Higurashi gripped the door so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Either let her call these 'police' or I'm going to hunt him down and kill him," InuYasha said.

"Why can't everyone just leave me alone?" Kagome whimpered. "I'll be fine…" InuYasha held out the skirt he found, letting it dangle from his claws, realizing for the first time that he still had it. He was going to use it to help track down that… _bastard_. Kagome choked on a sob as it rose and his ears flattened against his head involuntarily.

"You don't look like you're going to be fine," he said, stepping towards her. She shrunk away from him. "And now you're afraid of me." InuYasha dropped the skirt. '_This is my fault,_' InuYasha thought. '_If I hadn't pushed her away, she would never have been alone with that fucker._' He walked over to the window.

"Please don't leave," Kagome said in a small voice.

"I'm not going to," he replied. "I'm not ever leaving you again. It's my fault that this happened, for not coming back with you."

"No, it's my fault for dating him in the first place. I knew there was something a little off about him. I just never thought he would…" Kagome hiccoughed.

"Stop that, both of you," Mrs. Higurashi snapped angrily. "This was that boy's fault and no one else's. When I met him, I never suspected he was capable of such a thing, either." InuYasha heard what she said, but he didn't stop blaming himself. He already blamed Yukio, but it was such a horrible thing, blaming it on only one person didn't seem enough. It _had _to be his fault as well.

"The one thing I am certain of," InuYasha said, "Is that it's not Kagome's fault at all." Kagome sniffled loudly.

"You're not mad at me?" Kagome asked. "You looked so mad when I woke up…"

"I'm mad at that asshole, stupid!" InuYasha snapped.

"Watch your language!" Mrs. Higurashi shot back, agitated.

"Sorry," InuYasha said, contrite.

"I'm going to call the police now, Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi said, then stood and left the room. Kagome and InuYasha sat in an uncomfortable silence for the next ten minutes. Mrs. Higurashi poked her head in and told them the police were on their way, and then left them to their silence. InuYasha looked around for the hat he wore when he was out in public in Kagome's time, knowing it was important to her.

"Your sword," she said, sniffling, when she saw him put on the hat.

"What about it?" he asked.

"The police will get mad if they see you wearing it," Kagome explained. She looked so lost and fragile, so he pulled Tetsusaiga off and looked around, trying to decide where to put it. "In my drawer," Kagome offered, pointing. He opened the top drawer and blushed at the sight of her undergarments, quickly closing it and opening the second, where he placed the katana. He could hear Kagome's heart racing like a rabbit's and he wanted to comfort her, but hadn't forgotten the way she reacted when he tried to touch her.

'_If that jackass has made it so I can never touch Kagome again, I don't care what she says, I'm going to find him and skin him alive,_' he thought. '_Then I'm going to cut out his heart and feed it to him. Or tear his head off and shove it up his ass._' InuYasha entertained himself with thinking of the most gruesome things he could do to Kagome's attacker until he saw a strange vehicle park at the bottom of the shrine's stairs. Men in uniform walked up the path and he growled without thinking.

"Are they here?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah," InuYasha said, maintaining his post at the window and glaring down at the 'police.' He watched Kagome's mother open the door for them and he listened as they walked into the shrine. He followed the sound of their footsteps and listened to their voices as they talked to Mrs. Higurashi. Kagome was obviously listening as well, curled against the wall, the blanket clutched tight in her fingers. Her breathing was becoming shallower and more rapid and he wanted to keep the men away from her, but knew that it would do no good.

So he just glared at them as they entered the room. One glared back at him, but the other shot a sympathetic smile at Kagome. InuYasha hated the smiling one more immediately. How dare he smile when Kagome was in pain? He bit back the growl that started to rumble in his chest.

"You're going to need to leave, sir," the smiling one said to him.

'_Like hell I am_,' InuYasha thought.

"No, don't make him go," Kagome said in that same high voice she had used the last time she thought he would leave.

"I'm not going anywhere," InuYasha said.

"Who are you?" the glaring officer asked.

"He's my boyfriend," Kagome said. Both men turned to look at him. "Not the one that hurt me."

"You sure have a lot of boyfriends for a girl your age," the angry officer commented. InuYasha stepped away from the wall, balling his hand into a fist.

"Hayakawa, you can leave," the smiling officer said, no longer smiling. "Send in Ameda."

"Yes, sir," Hayakawa said, leaving. A minute later, a younger man came in and stood stiffly by the door.

"Okay, Kagome-san, I need you to please tell me what happened." The smile was back in place. Kagome's eyes darted to InuYasha, then to the bed.

"I can leave for this if you want," InuYasha said, seeing the look and not particularly wanting to hear the details.

"Please don't," Kagome said, holding out her hand. Surprised, InuYasha cautiously stepped forward and took her hand in his, sitting beside her at a careful distance. She released his hand and took a deep breath. "Yukio was my boyfriend for the last month and a half," she started. "He had been… pressuring me lately…" Kagome stared at the blanket in her hands. "I kept telling him that I wasn't ready and he always acted understanding." Kagome stopped talking long enough that the officer prodded her.

"So he was a good boyfriend, for the most part," he said. Kagome looked up.

"Yes. He was always very nice to me." Kagome looked out the window.

"You said his name was Yukio. Do you have a last name for him?"

"Ryuuhyou," Kagome answered.

"Can you please continue with your story? It's okay to take your time."

"Well, I realized that I wanted to break up with him. I didn't want to do it over the phone or on the date—both just seemed cruel," she said. "So I called him and asked him to meet me at the park where we walk sometimes after dates."

"And you've never had sex with him before?" the officer asked. Kagome shook her head.

"No, I was a virgin." Her voice broke and her grip on the blanket tightened. InuYasha felt the hat was too tight on his ears, which were twitching like mad. These were questions he wondered about, but had never wanted to ask. Now he had to hear it all and he was tremendously uncomfortable, but not willing to leave Kagome.

"Did he know about your other boyfriend?"

"He wasn't my boyfriend then. We had talked about becoming a couple. We've been friends a long time and… He knew that we had a complicated relationship. But like I told him, I wasn't just leaving him because I wanted to go out with… my new boyfriend. I was leaving him because I had no romantic feelings for him. We had agreed to date to get to know each other, but it just wasn't working out."

"Okay, so you went to the park to break up with him."

"Yes. I explained to him that it wasn't working out."

"What did he say?"

"I told him I was sorry and he said, 'No, you aren't, but you're going to be,' and then he started talking about his name."

"I need to know his exact words, as closely as you can remember," The policeman said. Kagome repeated them and InuYasha wanted to hunt Yukio even more. When she got to 'or I can fuck you' he actually stood up and walked to the window, shaking with rage. Ameda watched him carefully and InuYasha controlled his urge to put a hole in Kagome's wall. Kagome had stopped speaking and InuYasha turned and met her eyes. She quickly looked away and he crossed the room to sit back where he was. She was crying and he had the horrible feeling that it was his fault.

"I kept hoping someone would hear me…" Kagome said. "I screamed for help so many times…" InuYasha felt his talons slice the palm of his hand, but he didn't feel better. '_I failed her. She expected me to save her and I failed her. It's my fault she was hurt. I'm a failure._' He was so lost in his self-deprecation that he almost was blessed with missing what Kagome said next. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to drown out her words as she described Yukio's violation of her. How much it hurt. How helpless and alone she felt. A tear pushed its way past InuYasha's defenses and he cursed it. He used to have perfect control over his tears, but Kagome had destroyed it. The day he had thought he failed all his friends and lost them, something inside of him had broken. Something he could never fix.

To punish himself, he listened very closely to every word Kagome spoke, committing them to memory. He remembered almost everything she said to him anyway, despite her protests that he never listened to her. Some things just didn't make sense to him, so he didn't respond. It didn't mean he wasn't listening. He wanted to run away and not hear this so badly that he started twitching. He forced himself to stop, afraid of upsetting Kagome further. It was a very hard thing to hear, but he heard every word.

"All right, Kagome-san," the officer said. "We need to get you to a hospital so a doctor can examine you and a photographer can document the injuries." InuYasha didn't like the sound of that and apparently, neither did Kagome. She grabbed InuYasha's sleeve and he sat there and wondered what she wanted him to do. He finally decided to stand up and grab her hand as he did it, pulling her off the bed. Her hand was shaking as it wrapped tightly around his, but she didn't let go. She squeezed so tightly it was painful, but he didn't tell her to ease up.

"It's not going to matter," Kagome muttered as they walked down the stairs.

"Huh?" InuYasha asked as quietly as Kagome had commented.

"You saw the way that officer looked at me when I said you were my boyfriend. They're just going to make me look like a tease."

"What are you talking about? You're covered in bruises," InuYasha whispered back. "And blood."

"I was a virgin," Kagome replied, sounding very tired. "Of course there was blood." InuYasha's ears went back so quickly his hat fell off. He caught it and adjusted it so that it was holding his ears down again.

"If they don't do anything, can I kill him then?" InuYasha asked. Kagome looked at him in horror.

"How can you ask that? You can't just kill people…" Kagome's voice dropped so low he could barely hear her through the damn hat.

"Can I at least kick his ass?" InuYasha whispered. Kagome was quiet for a long time as the officers made travel arrangements with her mother. It was agreed that Kagome would ride with Ameda and InuYasha. Her mother would ride with Hayakawa and the senior officer.

"Yes," Kagome whispered back to InuYasha. Something that had been tight in his chest loosened. Kagome had given him permission to hurt Yukio. Whatever it was in his chest moved to his stomach as he realized what he just thought. _Kagome had given him permission to hurt Yukio_. He had known that she was upset, hurt and angry. Now he was worried that she was broken. He knew that when he found that brat, he was going to beat him within an inch of his life. He was still mad at himself for being mad at Kagome for even a minute when he discovered the soiled clothing. He had blamed her. _He _had. He knew that Kagome wasn't that kind of girl and he had still wondered. He knew with certainty that he would have his chance with Yukio.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: In the United States, Yukio would be going to jail, no chance of getting off. However, they're not in the US and in Tokyo, sadly, the few little things like the fact that there were no witnesses, Yukio is not older and Kagome's second boyfriend will be held against her. There's still a mild chance she would have won, but from the case files I read… her chances weren't very good. I hope that someday, this author's note is rendered obsolete and that when a woman is raped, one of the worst crimes that can be committed against another person, no matter where she is, she can find justice. And hopefully, someday, men won't be embarrassed to seek help when they are attacked and justice can be served for them, as well. _


	11. Moving On

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 11**

"I'm going to stay in the warring states era with InuYasha for the rest of the break, Mama," Kagome said, packing her bag full. It was a lot lighter without her schoolbooks, but a little overstuffed with more clothing since she no longer had her junior high uniform. Mrs. Higurashi looked at her daughter with worry as she silently left the house, shying away from everyone. Kagome hadn't laughed or smiled since the day Yukio had attacked her.

"Be careful," Mrs. Higurashi said, smiling to her daughter. Kagome nodded, but didn't smile back. She walked quietly out of the house and her mother spun on InuYasha, who was lagging behind. "I'm worried about her," she said, grabbing the sleeve of his haori.

"So am I," InuYasha responded. "But I don't know what to do to help her," he admitted.

"Please, keep her safe," she whispered. InuYasha looked down at her and nodded.

"I will," he assured her. "Where does Yukio live?" Mrs. Higurashi stared at him.

"I've never been there," she answered.

"So you don't know?"

"Why are you asking?"

"You heard those 'police' people. They're not going to do anything for Kagome. So I am." He met her eyes and saw them grow hard. She nodded.

"I'll find out," Mrs. Higurashi whispered.

"InuYasha?" Kagome called, coming back in the house and looking frightened. "Are you coming?"

"Yes," he said, quickly stepping up next to her. Her hand latched onto his and he squeezed it lightly. The pressure made her pull away again and he let her. She seemed so confused now and he kept trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. She would reach for him, but if he reached back at all, she pulled away. She watched his every move and every now and then, she flinched and looked away. He tried to remember, each time, what it was that he was doing when she became afraid. But he couldn't find a pattern. So he decided to let her lead and the rest of the time, he just tried to do everything like he had before.

He hated that they had just finally made progress with their relationship and that little shit had ruined it. No matter how much it had hurt him that Kagome had dated the boy, what had happened to her was far beyond anything he would have wished on her. In fact, he blamed himself even more because he had driven her to date him. If he had just claimed her as his own long before, none of this would have happened. There was now timidity in Kagome that had never been there. She didn't take long steps, kept her arms close to her sides and he had to fight the urge to grab her and jump out of the well when she was climbing the vines on the inside of it.

He knew if he tried to do that, she would fall into hysterics again, so he jumped past her and kept everyone away from the well while she slowly climbed. He had come back the night before while she slept and told everyone that she had been attacked and to give her distance. He refused to speak the nature of the attack, but told them it had been that boy and they seemed to know. He was sure his near-constant growling had been a tip-off but he couldn't stop himself. He felt so angry and helpless. Shippo was the only one who didn't seem to catch on to what had happened and no one bothered to explain it to him, although InuYasha told him he'd rip his tail off if he asked Kagome about the attack or even mentioned it.

When Kagome reached the top of the well, InuYasha held out his hand, hoping she would take it. She looked at it in fear for a moment, then closed her eyes and reached for him. He didn't pull when her hand closed in his, but let her. She shook a little once she was on the ground and he heard Miroku's soft curse. He shot the monk a look that told him to shut up, but Miroku only glared back, looking just as angry as the hanyo felt. Kagome's face was covered in terrible bruises now and her throat was dotted with more, several of which contained scratches from Yukio's fingernails.

InuYasha was used to the sight now, no matter how angry it made him, but he had barely warned the others. Kagome looked at them nervously and InuYasha glared, daring any of them to defy him and mention what he had forbidden.

"Welcome back, Kagome," Sango said, smiling. Kagome nodded to her, her lips twitching slightly, but managing to miss their objective. Miroku turned away and walked off, his posture angry. Kagome stepped in towards InuYasha, shooting a frightened glance at the monk.

"Is he mad at me?" she asked softly. Miroku stopped and turned around, shock on his face.

"No!" he said quickly. "InuYasha told us you had been attacked," he said, ignoring the growl that immediately filled the air. "I am angry at your attacker and frustrated that we were not there to protect you."

"How much did he say?" Kagome asked.

"Not enough!" Shippo said angrily. "Just that some human boy beat you up." Kagome sighed and InuYasha felt the tension leave her. She stepped back away from him and he missed the feel of her pressed against him, but didn't move from his position. It was too much to hope for that they could all just do as he told them.

"Yeah," Kagome said. "He was really mad at me for breaking up with him," she said. "Do I really look that bad?" Sango bit her lip and Miroku looked away. Even Shippo didn't say anything. "I see." Kagome bounced her backpack higher on her shoulders and started walking in the direction they were last headed. InuYasha followed behind her, making sure to stomp on Miroku's foot as he went by. Miroku yelled at him, but he ignored him. He just hoped that Kagome recovered soon.

**_To be continued…_**


	12. Repercussions

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance

Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 12**

Over the next few weeks, InuYasha tried to talk to Kagome several times. Each time he came near her, though, she shied away. She was acting completely out of character for her—timid, frightened and weak. Each time he saw the fear in Kagome's eyes, another ounce of hatred for Yukio piled onto the growing mound of seething rage inside of him. At night, she cried in her sleep and he would sit next to her, carefully not touching her and feeling utterly useless until she stopped.

He thought about his decision to be with Kagome nearly all the time now. He had been relieved when he chose her, as though a heavy object had left his shoulders. He understood it had something to do with no longer denying his feelings, but other than that, he couldn't grasp why he felt better attaching himself to Kagome than he had trying to maintain his relationship with Kikyo. He had told Kikyo how he felt about her, but she hadn't embraced him and shared the sentiment. She hadn't even ever forgiven him for something he never did.

Kagome had forgiven him for everything he did to her. Every pain he caused her. He hadn't even really realized how bad it was until she inflicted the same pain on him. He hadn't been as strong as her. He couldn't handle her belonging to someone else. That had been what allowed him to make the decision to choose Kagome, in the end. He couldn't abide the thought of losing her to someone else and he couldn't tolerate not having the right to forbid her to attach herself to another person.

He knew it was time to offer the same to her in return and he wanted to tell her that, but she never allowed them to be alone anymore. She stayed with Sango and Shippo almost all the time, avoiding Miroku like he was diseased. InuYasha knew that Miroku's feelings were hurt that Kagome wouldn't go near him, but he had no sympathy.

"How do you think I feel?" He snapped at Miroku one night when the girls and Shippo were off bathing and the monk had been sulking all day.

"What do you mean, InuYasha?" Miroku asked, startled.

"I mean… you're moping around because she doesn't trust you, but she doesn't even trust me right now." InuYasha glared up at the full moon in the sky.

"She still walks next to you," Miroku said. "She doesn't look at you like you might attack her at any moment. I think it's clear that she trusts you, InuYasha. If she didn't, she wouldn't be here right now."

"Unless she's just hiding from _him _here," InuYasha grumbled. He felt better from what Miroku had said, though. He knew the monk was right, he was just arguing out of frustration.

"If that were true, then she wouldn't have gone back to her time to start her school again. She goes back and forth with you, so she's obviously not hiding from either time. Just me," Miroku sighed.

"She's not hiding from you," InuYahsa said, rolling his eyes. "Although I'm sure she'd feel safer around you if you weren't such a lecher. If you want her to stop avoiding you, why don't you shave your head and start obeying some of those vows you supposedly took?" Miroku's eyes went wide and he touched his hair protectively.

"I'm sure she'll eventually come around again. She just needs time," Miroku said, closing his eyes and trying to hide the twitch in his eye from the suggestion InuYasha had just made.

"I hope you're right," InuYasha said. "Because if she doesn't, then I'm going to kill that little fucker no matter what Kagome says." A dark look passed over Miroku's eyes as he opened them again.

"Well, I'm sure you'll have been here with me all night if something happens to that boy," the monk said quietly. InuYasha glanced over at him, a little surprised by his agreement. He decided that if Miroku wasn't trying to talk him out of it, then he probably wasn't wrong. Still, he had made a promise to Kagome and he didn't know if he could really handle having a human boy's death on his hands, no matter how much he hated him. It didn't mean he couldn't still get revenge, though.

* * *

On the next new moon, InuYasha did something he never had before. He left everyone asleep in camp and went through the well. He climbed out using the ladder that stayed there for Kagome and cursed his human form's weakness. But he remembered that Kagome told Yukio about him and the well and he didn't want the boy to know he was a hanyo, for Kagome's sake. She was always hiding his ears in her time, so he decided this was the easiest way. He walked to the main house and was happy to see Mrs. Higurashi waiting for him, just like he had asked. 

"InuYasha?" She did a double take upon seeing him and he ignored it. None of Kagome's family had ever seen him in his human form, so he had expected it.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. "Where does he live?"

"Why are you human?" she asked, holding out a piece of paper. He opened it and read the instructions, then tucked it into his sleeve.

"Kagome didn't tell you that I turn human every now and then?" he asked, careful not to mention why he was human.

"No."

"Good to know she didn't blab the secret to the whole world," he said. "Too many people already know."

"Be careful," Mrs. Higurashi said. "I didn't know that you would be doing this… like that."

"Kagome told me that I can't kill him," InuYasha said. "I can take care of one stupid little human boy like this."

"You're just a boy yourself," she whispered. He blinked at her, unsure how to respond. "You just… look much younger like that."

"Keh," he dismissed, then turned and walked off, taking the paper out now and then to find his way. It took him two hours, but he found the boy's house. Once he was standing in front of it, he wasn't sure what to do. He undoubtedly had parents, so he couldn't just barge into the house. He didn't know which room was his, so he couldn't just drag him out of bed. He walked up to the nearest window and peeked in, realizing that he had never seen the boy and Kagome had never described him. What if he had a brother?

A face appeared in front of him and he took a step back. For a moment, he had thought he was looking into Sesshomaru's eyes. The window opened and the boy looked out at him. They stared at each other a moment and InuYasha cursed his human nose for not being able to tell him if he had found the right person.

"Yukio?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Who are you?" the boy asked back. He had strange hair—red-tipped black and it covered most of his face. The cold eyes made InuYasha certain that he had found who he was looking for.

"Kagome's boyfriend," InuYasha answered. The boy slammed the window shut and InuYasha heard a clicking sound. "What's wrong?" he asked, "You're only tough around girls?"

"Go away. I have no business with you." Yukio's eyes were filled with fear and InuYasha smiled.

"Oh, we have business all right," he said, cracking his knuckles. "You stop being a coward and come out of there!"

"Go to hell."

"You first," InuYasha said, and then punched the glass. His hand passed through it and he ignored the pain as shards sliced into the flesh. He caught Yukio by the front of his shirt and pulled him back into the window. A few pieces fell, but it didn't break again. He pulled at the broken pieces, trying to dig them out so he could pull Yukio through. The boy squirmed violently, then grabbed a piece of broken glass and stabbed InuYasha in the arm. InuYasha flinched, but didn't give up his objective. Yukio wiggled out of his shirt and backed away. InuYasha reached down and turned the lock as he had seen Yukio do.

"I'm calling the police," Yukio said, turning to run. InuYasha got the window open and leapt into the room before he made it to the door.

"You should never have touched her," InuYasha growled as he bounced Yukio's head off the hard, wooden floor. He heard a noise off in the house and dragged the boy back through the window by his hair. Yukio kicked and hit at him, but InuYasha was still stronger than him in human form. He dragged him into the shadows, ignoring the blows as best he could. Yukio swung at him and InuYasha saw the glint of glass a moment before it contacted his face. He knocked it away, blinking in pain. Then he turned every ounce of fury he had burning inside of him on the human cowering in front of him. Fist and foot connected repeatedly with Yukio as InuYasha beat him within an inch of his life.

When he heard sirens, he finally released Yukio, who slumped to the ground, barely breathing. InuYasha decided there was one thing left to do and he lifted the broken piece of glass. He looked down at Yukio, whose eyes were swollen closed and slapped him. The eyes opened as much as they were able and InuYasha showed him the glass. The boy gasped and tried to push InuYasha off, but he had no strength left. InuYasha grabbed his hair and used it to hold his head still as he carved two careful characters into his forehead—Zainin—branding him a criminal. He smiled at his work. It could also be read 'tsumibito'—sinner—and InuYasha was finally satisfied. He hoped it would serve as a warning to any other girls the bastard might try to hurt. He had carved it so deeply that he knew it would scar perfectly and he also knew that the boy needed medical attention or he might bleed to death. So he threw Yukio into the street and ran off into the night, his—and Kagome's—vengeance done.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: I would have had InuYasha carve 'rapist' into Yukio's head, but there is no word for that in Japanese. And any modern or English-derived equivalent wouldn't be in InuYasha's vocabulary. If the beating description seemed a little short it's that there wasn't much that could be written for it. Besides, this way, you can imagine it in any way you wish. _


	13. Without You

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Kag/OC, Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 13**

InuYasha heard the gasp from the main house as he walked by and he stopped, looking up at Mrs. Higurashi. She was staring at him with a strange look on her face and he looked down at himself. He was covered in blood—his own and Yukio's. When the sun came up, all the wounds would heal and there wouldn't be a scar on him. He hoped Yukio never recovered. He met Mrs. Higurashi's eyes and she looked away.

"Is he still alive?" she asked quietly. InuYasha nodded.

"I told Kagome I wouldn't kill him. He was alive when I left him."

"Is that… all his blood?"

"No," InuYasha answered. "Most of it's mine." She looked over at him and the look turned to concern. "But don't worry about it. I'll heal it by morning. He won't." InuYasha finished his trek to the well house and jumped back into his own time without looking back. He climbed the vines that Kagome had so many times before and pulled himself out at the top. Immediately, even without his hanyo senses, he knew something was wrong. He stood up and ran towards the camp and when he was almost there, that's when he heard Miroku scream.

InuYasha pushed himself just a little further and cursed his human form to the depths of hell. When he finally reached them, whatever had attacked them was gone. Sango was trying to help Miroku and Shippo was crying and clutching Kagome's bag. Kirara was in her small form, unconscious. No matter where InuYasha looked, he didn't see Kagome. He would have demanded to know where she was, but he saw that Miroku was hurt, badly. He ran over to him and looked at the blood seeping through the robes.

"What happened?" he asked, frustrated by the hours left until the sun rose.

"We were attacked," Sango said. "We barely saw anything, it was like they were made of shadows. Kagome screamed, and then, she was just… gone."

"Which way?" InuYasha asked, looking around.

"No, you don't understand. It was like she vanished into the air."

"Shit!" InuYasha cursed, standing and looking around, finally screaming in frustration, "**_Kagome_**!"

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: Ah, sorry for that being so short, but that's all this chapter was! Gomen! _


	14. Innocence Lost

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 14**

Nearly seven months passed and a lot of things changed. Kikyo died, but InuYasha was still so heartbroken over losing Kagome that he barely felt it. There was only so much grief he could take and since he already felt as though he had lost Kikyo, truly losing her was no extra blow. He even had a coward's relief that he would never have to tell her that he had chosen Kagome over her, after all the times he had told Kagome the opposite. Koga had fought with InuYasha upon discovering that Kagome had been kidnapped, even after the hanyo saved his life of his own free will, and set out to find Kagome, abandoning his quest for vengeance. InuYasha looked for Kagome everywhere he went, but still sought Naraku, suspecting he had a hand in the whole kidnapping, even though he denied it when confronted on Mount Hakurei.

Miroku asked Sango to marry him, although he did it in private and only Shippo knew, since he had been eavesdropping. InuYasha made biweekly trips through the well to update Mrs. Higurashi, who never took the news well. The first trip he made, she had cried and begged him to find her. The second, she threw a glass at him and told him not to come back without her daughter. The third (which he made despite her previous demand) she cursed him, the well and fate. The next several times, she just looked sad and said nothing.

He wasn't sure how long he would try to find her, but something inside told him that she wasn't dead. When Kikyo died, he had felt it. When Kagome had been hurt, he felt it. But he hadn't felt anything that made him think she was dead, so he kept searching. He was at his wit's end when he ended up in a village and picked up her scent. It had been a long time since he smelled it on her, but he carried her bag around to occasionally sniff and remind himself. It was definitely Kagome.

"Kagome!" he shouted in the middle of the crowd and watched as many people turned around. He looked at all their faces, but didn't see her. He searched through several women until one gaunt, weary face stood out. "Kagome," he whispered, horrified at the look of her. She was crouched over the ground, pulling weeds from a garden—or she was until she heard his voice.

"Inu… Yasha?" she whispered back. He watched her turn back to the task, then she pushed herself up from the ground, the kimono she was wearing flaring out around her. She stumbled forward and he ran to her. She turned around and he skidded to a halt, horrified. Her stomach protruded far in front of her in pregnancy, her skin was sallow and her hair ragged and dirty. There were bruises under her eyes and across her chin. She looked down at the ground, a blush spreading across her cheeks. "I must look awful," she whispered again. He reached out and touched her arm and she looked up at him again. A moment later, she was embracing him, her hard stomach digging into his as she clutched him with all her strength.

He hugged her back, wondering what the hell was going on, but more worried than upset. Especially when her shoulders began shaking and sobs wracked her body. He held her more tightly, ignoring the stares and whispers of the villagers around them. She was trembling from head to toe and he knew it wasn't the weather—it was so hot he was sweating.

"Get your filthy hands off her, she's mine!" some man yelled and Kagome flinched. He felt her shrink in fear and a warning growl rose in him. He turned to the offending man and poured all his hatred into the glare he gave him. The man stepped back clutching a gardening instrument he had brought with him. "I bought her, fair and square and I haven't waited all this time for her to have that brat just so some disgusting demon could steal her away!" The growling increased in volume.

"You can't have bought her, she was never for sale," InuYasha growled, trying very hard not to lose his temper.

"Yes, she was! I bought her from a slave trader that went through here last season with several beautiful women. I paid a good price for her, too, especially since she's used," the man sneered. Kagome made a sound and InuYasha realized he'd accidentally dug his claws into her shoulder. He pulled them back quickly and stepped back, taking off Kagome's backpack from himself and putting it on her. She looked surprised, but took it quietly. He presented his back to her and crouched down. From what he understood, the man hadn't touched Kagome, so he didn't want to kill him. If she really had been carted around as a slave, she had been lucky to end up where she was. She climbed tentatively onto his back and he stood up, surprised by the amount of relief he felt just having her there again. It felt good; it felt _right_. "Did you hear me? I said you can't have her!"

"And I said _you _can't have her!" InuYasha growled, spinning to face the man. "She was mine to begin with and if I find out you so much as laid a finger on her, I'll be back," he yelled. The man shrunk back, pale and frightened. He obviously didn't want to give her up, but at the same time, he knew he had no chance against InuYasha.

"We can't just let you leave with that man's property," said another villager, lifting another gardening tool. Soon, other men began to surround them and InuYasha didn't waste another moment. He crouched and leapt into the air, as high and far as he could. He heard gasps from beneath him and saw a spear fly by, too close for comfort. Still, he kept moving forward, dodging the stones and weapons thrown his way. Then Kagome cried out.

InuYasha quickly looked for a safe place to land and set her down. Something warm spread across his back and he was afraid Kagome was bleeding. He kept running until he was certain no one would catch them, then let her down and turned around. She fell to the ground, crying and clutching her stomach. Fluid had pooled all around the lower front of her kimono and he wondered if she had wet herself, except that it didn't smell like urine.

"The baby's coming!" she shrieked, writhing on the ground. He grabbed her bag, slung it across his shoulder and then lifted her in his arms and started running as fast as he could towards the last village he had seen before the one he found her in. "It's too soon!"

"What do I do?" he yelled back, frantic.

"Take me home," she gasped. Her voice was wrecked, like it had been worn out from a lot of screaming lately. He suddenly smelled her blood and his fingers grew warm. He glanced down and saw that some wound on her back had been reopened from the way he was carrying her and he cursed loudly. He ran the entire rest of the day and all night before he reached the well. He jumped in, and then leapt back out the second his feet touched the ground. He was exhausted and near to passing out; his legs and back burned and he ached all over. Kagome was unconscious in his arms and he ran to the shrine as fast as he was able.

"I have Kagome!" he yelled at the top of his voice as soon as he was close to the house. A light went on inside and he ran through the door, bouncing his passenger into a better position. Unfortunately, it was too much on his already exhausted legs and he went to his knees under Kagome's weight. Souta ran through the door first and gasped at the sight in front of him. Mrs. Higurashi and Jii-chan hit the doorway at the same time, but Kagome's mother pushed through first, nearly knocking Souta over. She apologized, and then went to her knees in front of InuYasha, who was holding the girl as tightly as his weary body would let him.

"Inu no nii-chan, you're bleeding!" Souta cried out.

"No, it's Kagome's," InuYasha argued, then followed Souta's hand to his torn kimono. One of the spears managed to hit right at the break in the sleeve, tearing into his arm. He never even noticed. The spearhead was imbedded in the flesh. "Pull it out," he told Souta, who went wide-eyed and stepped back.

"Me?" Souta asked. InuYasha nodded and the boy reached out tentatively.

"Quickly," InuYasha said and Souta closed his eyes and ripped it out. He opened them to look at the piece of stone in his hand and gasped at all the blood. He looked back up, but InuYasha didn't look any different, so he clutched the souvenir in his palm and tried to stay out of the way as his mother attempted to wake his sister, who was now on the floor, and Jii-chan called for an ambulance. Souta quietly took the bag off of InuYasha's shoulders, the hanyo only noticing enough to let the straps slide off his arms. He dug around inside to find Kagome's first aid kit. He wasn't certain what he was doing, but he remembered Kagome said InuYasha healed fast, so he wanted to wrap the wounds to keep the doctors away from him, figuring it would also be difficult to explain a spear wound.

He pulled at the fire rat kimono and finally got InuYasha's attention. The hanyo noticed what he was doing and took it off. Relieved that he seemed to be doing the right thing, Souta pulled the off-white kimono off and used a cloth to wipe the blood away. Once he could see the injury, he began wrapping bandages, trying not to make them too tight.

"They're too loose," InuYasha commented, never taking his eyes off Kagome. Souta apologized and rewrapped them, pulling tighter than he was comfortable with. But when InuYasha didn't complain, he relaxed. He lifted the torn and blood-soaked kimono and wondered what to do with it. His grandfather had obviously been paying attention, because he held out one of his own tops to Souta. The boy nodded thanks and put it on InuYasha, who was too distracted to dress himself until Souta started fumbling at the front. Then InuYasha took over and smiled up at him. "Thanks, kid," he said. Souta beamed, delighted to be not only noticed, but also appreciated. '_How could Kagome ever have cheated on him?_' he wondered. Then he felt terrible as he remembered what had happened to her for it.

No one had realized that he was sitting outside her bedroom door, crying as he listened to her tell the police what had happened. They hadn't seen him when they came out, because he had been throwing up in the bathroom. He barely understood anything about sex and listening to his sister describe being raped was the most horrible experience of his life. He had been forgotten in the confusion and had snuck out of his room when he heard the police arrive. One cop, who kept saying things that made Souta want to hit him, was downstairs questioning his mother. He was too angry to handle that conversation, so he had gone upstairs to eavesdrop on his sister. He had listened for exactly four minutes before he had to spend the next half hour in the bathroom, being sick.

He saw InuYasha the night he came through the well as a human. He had peeked out from Kagome's window and tried to listen. He had waited with his mother, though she wasn't aware of it, until InuYasha came back, his hands covered in blood. He hadn't understood what happened, that he had attacked Yukio, until the next day in school when the kids were talking about a boy who was found beaten badly with 'zainin' carved into his head by glass. Souta had found a newspaper with a picture of it and recognized Yukio immediately. That was the night the nightmares stopped.

They had been horrible dreams—haunting him and leaving him exhausted each day. In some of them, he was forced to sit and listen to his sister talking to the police again. In others, he found her while Yukio was hurting her and couldn't save her. In one horrible version, it had been InuYasha and not Yukio hurting Kagome. That one had happened after he heard his mother screaming at InuYasha about failing to protect Kagome and telling him to bring her home. It was the only one he had after finding out InuYasha had avenged Kagome. He had been so upset by it that he had to stay home sick from school the next day.

He tried not to let anyone know how worried he had been, how awful he felt. The last month he had had with his sister before the attack, he treated her horribly and he couldn't forgive himself when she was kidnapped. To see her now: passed out on the floor, her stomach moving with Yukio's child inside… Souta turned away to discreetly wipe his tears on his sleeve, hoping no one had seen. But why would they? After all, they hadn't noticed him all this time he had been grieving for his sister.

He kept his grades up, maintained a cheerful demeanor and even managed to keep Hitomi from it all. She had stayed his girlfriend this whole time and was the only one who even seemed to sense something was wrong. Whenever he was feeling particularly horrible, she showed up and held his hand, making it easier to bear. He wondered if she knew how much help she had been to him. His thoughts were broken by InuYasha when the hanyo's hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up at him, surprised.

"You've been a lot of help, Souta," InuYasha said, turning to the door as the paramedics rushed in. Souta smiled a real smile then. InuYasha smiled back at him, squeezed his shoulder, and then chased off the poor people trying to do their job by putting Kagome on the gurney. He wouldn't have any of them lifting her, so he did it himself. Someone had retrieved his hat and he was wearing it as he followed behind them while they loaded Kagome on the ambulance. Mrs. Higurashi got in with her and InuYasha said he would follow.

"We'll take the bus," Jii-chan told Souta, nudging him towards the stairs. "Go put some clothes on."

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: Just so you know, no one is ignoring Souta, they've just all been worried sick about Kagome, including him, and he's trying not to bother anyone. It's not that anyone cares any less about him. He just got overlooked, poor kid, because he was pretending nothing was wrong. Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing, I really appreciate it! And yes, your reviews matter, you guys pointed stuff out that affected chapter 12 and is the reason it was so long, because I realized I skipped an entire rather important month in the story! So thanks, guys! I may not seem to be very affected, since I don't say something every chapter, but I read everything and take it all into consideration! –hugs–_


	15. Hospital Room

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 15**

InuYasha looked down at the tiny baby in the incubator. There were tubes running from the flat nose, taped in place with white bands that looked too big for the miniature head. She only weighed three and a half pounds, her skin was translucent and she couldn't breathe on her own. It amazed him that they were able to keep her alive at all. Kagome was recovering in her room with her mother. Souta was standing next to him, looking through the glass at his new niece. InuYasha didn't know how to react. All he had thought about was that bastard having a son with his Kagome who would probably grow up just like him.

But it was a girl. The moment he heard her tiny voice, he couldn't hate her. He was doing his best, but she looked so fragile and helpless. And when she opened her heavily lidded eyes, she looked right at him. Some doctor had said she couldn't see him yet, that babies were 'nearsighted', but he didn't believe it. She had followed his movements as he anxiously peered at the nurses cleaning her off and getting her prepared for all the machines that were now keeping her alive.

"InuYasha, she's asking for you," Mrs. Higurashi said as she walked up to the glass to stand with them. InuYasha shot one last confused glare at the baby, then walked back to Kagome's room. She had been cleaned up and no longer smelled of blood and amniotic fluid. There was a strong scent of unpleasant things like alcohol, but he had been in this room through most of her labor and was used to it now. He wasn't used to the sunken, bruised look of Kagome's face, though. He never wanted to be.

"InuYasha," she whispered, taking his hand. He sat in the chair next to the bed and met her eyes tentatively. He still expected to see the same condemnation in hers that was in his and had been in her mother's. And when it wasn't there, he felt even worse. Her eyes were tired, but they hadn't changed as much as they should. "How is she?"

"Alive." He pushed away the irritation that she was worried about the baby when she was in such bad shape. He was much more worried about her.

"Don't … be angry," she said softly.

"I'm not," he said quickly. "I'm just worried. I've been looking for you for almost a year."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I tried to escape…"

"Don't you ever apologize to me for something like that again," he growled. "_I'm _sorry that I didn't find you sooner." She smiled at him and his breath caught. It had been so long since he had seen it. She made a sound of pain and he let go of her hand, realizing that he was crushing it.

"Kiss me," she whispered and his eyes grew wide. It was the last thing he expected, but he didn't hesitate, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, breathing in her scent and taste and feeling all the shit his life had been lately evaporate. He broke the kiss and leaned back; so happy when he saw she was smiling again. He was so grateful that that one thing hadn't been taken away from him and he leaned his head onto the pillow next to hers, tossing his arm across her ribs. They were quiet for a long time, staring into each other's eyes, just happy to have one another back again. After a while, InuYasha fell asleep.

He woke to a nurse shaking his shoulder and leapt to his feet, forgetting where he was for a moment. The nurse jumped back, clutching her heart and apologized for disturbing him. He looked down to see that Kagome was sound asleep, then looked back at the nurse, who told him that visiting hours were over and he needed to leave. He told her exactly what he thought of 'visiting hours' and explained, colorfully, what the hospital could do with them. She paled and fled, not willing to confront him further.

"I think we need to call security," she said out in the hall. InuYasha's ears twitched. "That boy refused to leave and said some awful things!"

"The one with the silver hair?" another nurse asked. InuYasha recognized her voice from earlier.

"Yes."

"I don't suppose he would. He hasn't left her with anyone but her mother since they got here."

"I've seen a lot of protective new fathers, but—"

"Oh, he's not even the father!" the other nurse said.

"What?"

"Look, I don't think that it'll be a problem if he stays. In fact, I think it will be more of a problem if he leaves. She's been through a lot more than just childbirth recently and I think he makes her feel safe. I know _I'd _feel safe with someone that tenacious watching over me. So leave them be."

"If you say so…" InuYasha breathed a sigh of relief when the woman gave in. At this point, someone would have to kill him to get him away from Kagome. Every time he left her, she was hurt, badly. So, he never planned to leave her again, no matter what. Then his mind drifted to what the first nurse had said, about him being a new father, and the second one denying it. He wasn't sure who was right. Technically, the baby wasn't his, but… If Kagome stayed with him, then he would be responsible for protecting the child as well. And he didn't ever want the baby's real father near her or Kagome ever again, so that meant that she wouldn't have one unless he assumed the responsibility. In the end, it would be Kagome's choice, of course, but he wanted her to choose him as her daughter's father.

"Kagome," he whispered. "Do you still want to stay with me?"

"Yes," she answered, opening her eyes. He jumped, startled. He thought she was asleep! "Do you still want me to stay?"

"Yes," he answered, trying to keep his voice down, despite the adrenaline now rushing through his system.

"What about the baby?" she asked. "She's not yours…"

"Are you going to give her to… that asshole?" InuYasha asked, refusing to speak his name.

"No, of course not!" she said, a flush of color finally starting in her cheeks.

"Then she's mine," he said. "I don't care what that paper you signed earlier says, she's mine if you're mine."

"Do… do you really mean that?" Kagome asked.

"Yes," he answered. Kagome sat up and reached for him and he quickly leaned in to keep her from ripping off the tubes and monitor wires attached to her. She hugged him tightly and he was relieved to feel a little more strength in her.

"I love you," she whispered. He kissed her again to show her that he felt the same. She leaned back into the bed and he sat back down. "Now, I just have to figure out what to name her."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I told you that she's mine. That means I name her."

"Oh, really?" Kagome said, looking a little like her old self again. "And just what do you plan to name her?"

"Oniko," he answered as a joke. Her mouth dropped open and she started sputtering. It was too much and he laughed.

"Demon child is not an appropriate name for a little girl!" she chastised, but when he started laughing, she realized that he was teasing her.

"I'm calling her Torako," he said seriously. Kagome turned her head to the side and thought about it. He wondered if she would argue.

"He was a lot like a tiger," she said softly. "But do you have to name her for her real father? If she's yours, then why remind everyone about him?"

"Mika?"

"New moon?" Kagome frowned at him. "You hate the new moon." He sighed.

"Tama," he decided. He looked at Kagome and she smiled this time. Relieved, he relaxed in his seat and tried out the new name. "Our daughter's name is Tama."

"Our daughter's name is Tama," she repeated. Another new nurse had just walked in the door and she smiled at them.

"So you've decided on a name?" She glanced down at the clipboard, and then held it out with a pen to Kagome. "Please write your daughter's full name here." Kagome picked up the pen and wrote it carefully. "Higurashi Tama," the nurse read. "A lovely name. Now, for the reason I came. Tama is doing as well as can be expected and you should be able to take her home in about six weeks."

"Six _weeks_?" InuYasha repeated, having had Kagome explain weeks and months to him long before.

"Yes," the nurse said. "She needs to grow to the physical maturity of at least a newborn before we can release her." Kagome sighed.

"That gives me time to get ready for her, I suppose," she said. The nurse nodded, then turned and walked out of the room. "InuYasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Should I keep her?" Kagome asked softly.

"What?"

"Tama. I mean, I didn't even get to go to high school for very long. What kind of life can I give her?" Tears started rolling down Kagome's cheeks and InuYasha panicked. He didn't know what to say and he was afraid the wrong thing would make her cry harder.

"Don't be stupid!" he said, trying to make her angry. At least if she was angry, she probably wouldn't be crying. "We'll give her a good life. You don't need school back in my time." Kagome turned to him and sniffled.

"I never thought about that," she said. "I mean, I thought about staying in your time, but… my life is here. There are things about the sengoku jidai that I love, but _this_ is my time. _This_ is when I belong."

"But… if you planned to stay with me, then did you expect me to live in this time?" InuYasha asked. Kagome nodded. "And how will it be different for me, having had _no _school at all, then it is for you, having a…"

"Chugakkou," she supplied.

"Having a chugakkou education?" InuYasha finished, a little frustrated. Kagome was quiet for a long time.

"Are you saying you won't stay in my time with me?"

"No!" InuYasha said, sighing. Was she being deliberately difficult? "I'm saying that… you won't be alone," he concluded lamely. But it seemed to be enough for her, because she relaxed and smiled again.

"Thank you, InuYasha," she said, sniffling.

"Just stop crying," he said, looking away. Kagome nodded and turned her own head away. InuYasha peeked at her and when he saw she seemed to be trying, he laid his head on her shoulder again. "Are you okay now?"

"I don't know," Kagome answered, honestly. "I've had a lot of time to get over what happened to me, but I've had this constant reminder, with Tama growing inside me. There are nights… when I still dream about it." InuYasha reached out and gently brushed her hair back from her face. "But I'm not scared of you anymore. I've been… I've been praying every night that you would come," she whispered, "and save me before I had the baby. I tried to run away… so many times…" Her eyes were closing and InuYasha knew she was tired, so he let her drift off to sleep, relaxing and letting himself fall asleep beside her.

**_To be continued…_**

_A/N: Chugakkou is the Japanese word for middle school or junior high. Tama means "a jewel" (specifically from the kun-reading of the kanji of her name… I spent way too much time researching Japanese names and naming practices). It's an uncommon name, but I don't think InuYasha would choose a common one, especially considering his own and Kagome's. Yes, I spent too much time thinking about it. I decided on Tama after looking through dozens of names and decided to play on shikon no tama (jewel of four souls), which brought them together in the first place. And in Japan, particularly InuYasha's time, men named babies and women usually had no say in it at all, at least, not in an obvious way. Usually, a woman would have to lead her husband to the name she wanted if she was determined about one._


	16. Facing Life Again

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 16**

"Seriously, InuYasha, I can go to the bathroom on my own," Kagome assured him as she shoved him out of the small room and shut the door in his face. She heard him slide down the door to guard it and sighed. She stared at herself in the mirror and made a face. The bruises and swelling had diminished, but there were a few scars that would never leave her now. Thankfully, they were small and she only noticed them because she was looking.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her body. Repeated beatings by the man who had bought her from the slave traders and from the traders themselves before she was sold had left marks on her back, arms and legs that would always be there. She was just glad that InuYasha had not seen her naked since the ordeal, or he would be even more paranoid and overprotective than he was now. It was bad enough that a few of the leg scars showed when she put on a skirt.

She used the toilet, wondering if he would always be this way now and was torn in her feelings about it. On the one hand, she was terrified whenever she wasn't sure where he was. On the other, there were times, like now, when she needed privacy and InuYasha didn't want to give it to her. He only used the bathroom himself when she was in her room and he did it so fast she was afraid he was going to hurt himself.

She looked over at the bathtub longingly as she stood and flushed, but she knew there was no way he would let her out of his sight for that long. She needed a bath desperately, but she didn't want him to see the scars. Nor did she particularly want him seeing her naked. She was okay with him kissing her and sleeping next to her bed, but she was now more nervous than ever about him seeing her in the bath.

She washed her hands and sighed at the door again. It was more than just his need to protect her, too. She was afraid he would find the scars ugly, find _her _ugly. She was sometimes surprised that he stayed with her after what happened. She was even more astonished that he didn't blame her. She reached out and turned the doorknob, bracing herself for losing her little bit of time alone to think.

She opened the door and no one was there. She immediately went from mildly irritated to panicked. "InuYasha? InuYasha!" she called, running into her room. He looked up from his place on the floor and she sighed with relief. He looked so sad though… She walked slowly to him and knelt in front of him.

"I'm sorry that I keep crowding you," he said quietly.

"It's okay," Kagome said. "I know that you're just worried." She leaned forward and rested her forehead against his. "I get afraid when you're not nearby, too."

"Kagome…"

"We'll figure this out. But, InuYasha, it wasn't your fault. None of it was," Kagome whispered. InuYasha grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace.

"I don't ever want to lose you again," he whispered. Kagome went stiff, a little of the panic at being held captive returning to her and he released her. She felt relief when he let her go, but it was mixed with disappointment and loneliness. She reached out and hugged him again, relieved when his arms only lightly encircled her body and forced herself to relax.

She was tired of the mixed emotions that flooded her every time they were together. It wasn't InuYasha himself that frightened her, but whenever she felt like she was trapped, no matter how irrationally, she became terrified. She would flashback to the night with Yukio, then the demons that captured her, the youkai that had held her and the man who kept her captive, intending to take her as a wife, and want to run away as fast as she could. But she wanted to run away to be held and comforted, which was what she was running from in the first place. '_I need counseling,_' Kagome thought, '_But how can I get it when I can't talk about what happened to me in the feudal era?_'

"Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi called, sticking her head in Kagome's room. "Eri is on the phone."

"Okay, Mama," Kagome said, pulling away from InuYasha and standing up. He watched her walk away, but didn't start to follow until she was almost out of the room. When she saw that he was keeping her in sight, she relaxed again. He waited at the top of the stairs while she took the call and she was relieved. He was giving her distance, but staying close enough that he could come at a moment's notice if she needed him. "Hello?"

"Kagome-chan! How are you?" Eri nearly shouted into the phone. Kagome blinked in pain as she flinched away from the receiver, then placed it back against her face.

"I'm a little better, Eri-chan, how are you?"

"Who cares about me? How was the US? What happened? Is it true that Yukio attacked you? Did the treatments at the hospital finally put your leukemia into remission?" Eri's barrage of questions made Kagome close her eyes, but she smiled at the last part. So, even while she was kidnapped, her grandfather kept up the whole 'Kagome is sick' routine.

"_I _care about you, I haven't talked to you in ages! The US was… uh… well, I never actually got to see anything outside of the hospital," Kagome improvised. "Yes, Yukio really attacked me and yes, they said my leukemia's in remission." Kagome's heart started slamming into her chest the moment she spoke Yukio's name and she realized she hadn't said it since she talked to the police. She had written it on the birth certificate, but she hadn't spoken it aloud in over seven months.

"I can't believe they let him off by just expelling him! Just a 'dating violation'!" Eri exclaimed. "I told them that you told me you were going to break up with him, but they believed him anyway."

"I wasn't there," Kagome said. "I couldn't go… What did he say, anyway?"

"He said that you agreed to… before you broke up," Eri said quietly. Kagome heard a noise on the stairs and turned, but Eri's next words distracted her. "But at least someone out there believed you. Besides your mom, that is. She was there, fighting for you every day. She really believed that you were going to win and for a while, so did we. I can't believe he actually ended up getting away with it! Like I said, though, at least someone else believed you and got justice for you."

"What?" Kagome asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, the 'zainin' incident," Eri said.

"The what?"

"You don't know? It was in the paper and everyone was talking about it…"

"I was already in the US, I guess," Kagome said.

"Oh, well, someone beat him up and carved 'zainin' in his forehead with glass. Apparently, he was too scared to say who did it. I guess you don't know who, then, huh?" Kagome was quiet and Eri continued. "I just thought it was your boyfriend, you know? You're always saying he's violent and jealous. Or… did he not believe you?" Kagome was about to answer, but the phone was ripped out of her hands.

"Like hell I didn't believe her! What kind of—" InuYasha shouted at poor Eri. Kagome grabbed the phone away from him, but he held on, trying to yell at her some more and Kagome attempted to cover the mouthpiece.

"I was just going to say that!" Kagome yelled, trying to wrestle the phone back. "How did you even hear that? I thought you were on the stairs!"

"I came down when I heard that little fucker's name!" he growled, pulling on the phone.

"Are you the one who did it?" Kagome asked and InuYasha let go. His ears were back against his head and he looked away.

"You said… you said I could kick his ass," InuYasha said, "If the 'police' didn't do anything. I did."

"So that's where you were that night," Kagome said softly and then remembered the phone in her hand. She waved InuYasha away as she lifted it back to her face. "Eri? Are you still there?"

"Yes," Eri answered quietly.

"I'm sorry about that, I didn't realize he could hear our conversation," Kagome apologized.

"It's okay," Eri said. "I didn't even know he was there. I take it you're still together then? I heard… I heard that you… had a baby."

"Yeah," Kagome said, flinching. "Her name is Tama. She's still at the hospital, because she was born early."

"What are you going to do?" Eri asked. "Are you going to try to make up the school year? Will you be able to with the baby?"

"I don't know," Kagome said. "There's so much work… I was barely keeping up last year."

"Well, the school still accepted you and everything," Eri said, reasonably, "And it's not your fault you were in the hospital so long. I'm sure they'll let you make it up and start classes next term."

"But it's the last term," Kagome protested. "I've missed almost all of my first year!"

"It's up to you, Kagome, but last year, you were so determined…" Eri replied softly. Kagome blinked hard and looked over at InuYasha, who was watching her silently from the other side of the room. She still had to go back to the feudal era to search for the last shard of the jewel. InuYasha had told her that Naraku had collected all but the final shard and had been wreaking hell on the sengoku jidai. Could she really balance motherhood, shard hunting and high school?

"Seems stupid that this whole thing started 'cause you were mad at me over your school stuff… if you don't go back," InuYasha said, answering her unspoken question. The phone started shaking in her hand and her eyes misted over at his words. '_I'm saying that… you won't be alone,_' his words to her in the hospital came back to her and she made a decision.

"You're right, Eri," Kagome said. "I can't give up. Not after everything I've been through!"

"I'm glad to hear it! I'll call Yuka and tell her right away. I hope you get to come back to our class!"

"It's too bad that Ayumi isn't with us anymore."

"Yeah, but she got accepted into that really prestigious private high school," Eri agreed.

"Somehow, I wasn't surprised," Kagome said, sighing. "It's just not the same without her."

"Yeah," Eri said. "I'll talk to you later!"

"All right. Bye-bye!" Kagome hung up the phone. She turned to InuYasha, who smiled at her and she smiled back. It felt good to have made a decision to return her life to some sense of normalcy. Whether or not she could handle it… only time would tell.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: In Japan, you have to make up anything you fail, period. But you don't get held back—rather, you have to take the classes over on top of the classes you have in the next year. So Kagome's got to make up all the work she missed until she passes it. Attendance isn't a big deal as long as you make up the work, but not being in class means you miss out on the teaching part and they don't make accommodations for that. The classes are fast paced and school isn't taken lightly there—their educations are appreciated. The dropout rate is miniscule and most people go to high school, even though it isn't mandatory and you have to pay for it.  
_

_**Sorry **that this chapter took so long to post! I didn't have internet for a while and then, when I originally tried to update, I couldn't get the site to work for me! Argh! So, yeah, sorry about that everyone!__  
_


	17. Evening Conversations

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 17**

Kagome heard a soft whimper as she was passing Souta's room on the way to bed that night. She stopped and listened until she was certain of what she was hearing and then pushed open his door, looking over at his bed. He was lying there, on his stomach, crying into his pillow. Kagome slipped into the room and walked over to him and leaned down.

"Souta?" she whispered. He shot up in bed, quickly wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Nee-chan? What's wrong? Do you need something?" he quickly asked her. She sat down next to him.

"Why are you crying, Souta? What's wrong?" she asked. He looked away and shrugged.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," he dismissed, and then turned back to her. "Are you okay, though? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Souta…" Kagome reached out and grabbed his head, pulling him into a headlock and noogied him. "You better tell me what's bugging you, right now!" she demanded.

"Ahh! Leggo!" he yelled. Kagome let him go and he rubbed his hair back into place, glaring at her.

"Well?" she asked. He sighed and looked down.

"I don't want to be a bother to anyone," Souta said.

"What do you mean? Did something happen at school?" Kagome asked, worried that maybe he was being bullied.

"No, nothing like that," he said. "I'll be fine, really."

"You can tell me, Souta, I'm your sister," Kagome assured him. "And right now, I'm worried about you. You've gotten taller since I saw you, but you look too skinny. Have you been eating? Oh, no, is someone stealing your lunch?"

"No!" Souta protested. "I said it wasn't anything to do with school. And don't worry about me, I don't want that!"

"But you're not telling me what's wrong and you were crying, Souta!"

"I was crying about you!" he yelled, then covered his mouth, his eyes going wide. Kagome's eyes widened as well and she gasped. "I didn't mean that! Forget I said anything!" Souta tossed himself face down into his pillow and Kagome stared at his wall. She felt him shaking and reached out and patted his shoulder.

"How much do you know about what happened?" Kagome asked softly. After a minute, Souta slowly sat up and stared at his hands, picking at his fingers nervously.

"Everything about what Yukio did," Souta answered. Kagome stared down at him in horror and he continued. "And I know that you were kidnapped by demons and no one could find you for a long time. You were all sick and hurt when you came back…"

"How much is everything?" Kagome asked, hoping that Souta only meant knowing that Yukio raped her to make the baby.

"I was outside your room when you were talking to the police," he confessed.

"Souta…" Kagome whispered, aghast.

"I didn't know what you were saying at first. Then… then I got sick." Souta looked up at the wall Kagome had been staring so hard at and she could see the tears brimming in his eyes.

"I'm… I'm so sorry," Kagome whispered, fighting her own tears. For her little brother to have heard such a thing…

"No, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you right before you left for the feudal era," Souta cried, turning to her. Kagome reached out and hugged him and held on as he cried against her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, Souta, you were right about him," Kagome whispered.

"I wish I hadn't been!" Souta whimpered.

"I wish you hadn't listened at my door," Kagome added.

"I wish I hadn't done that, either," Souta agreed. He sat back and wiped his face on his sleeve again. "So you're not mad at me?"

"No!" Kagome said. "And I don't want you to be upset about this any longer. And if you are, don't just lie in here and cry by yourself, please."

"Okay," he agreed. Kagome ruffled his hair and stood up. "Nee-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about what happened to you."

"Don't let it bother you, Souta. I'll be okay. Really," Kagome tried to reassure him. He didn't quite look convinced, but then, she wasn't convinced herself. Still, he let it go.

"Good-night, nee-chan."

"Good-night, Souta," Kagome said, then shut his door behind her. She walked down the hall to her bedroom and InuYasha looked up at her as she came in. She smiled down at him and climbed into bed. "Good-night, InuYasha."

"Good-night, Kagome," he answered. She let her hand fall off the side of the bed and sighed happily when he took it. Finally, she felt ready to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Kagome got up and packed her bag for the feudal era. She wasn't going to be much help anymore, she knew, since her holy powers were gone. Yukio took those away from her as well. She had discovered that when she tried to fight the demons that captured her. Since she was no longer pure, she could no longer purify, but she could still sense the jewel. She had sensed a shard a few times in the village while she was pregnant, so she knew that power hadn't been taken. And she figured there were a few things Miroku might be able to teach her, since everyone knew he wasn't pure from their time in the Mt. Hakurei barrier. 

And she still had the knowledge from her own time that periodically came in handy. She wasn't going to stop going through the well as long as it worked for her. She knew that there had to be a reason for her to keep going if she still could. So, that morning, she said good-bye to her family, who wished her a safe trip, and then jumped back to the past with InuYasha's arm wrapped around her. Once they were on the other side, she climbed onto his back so he could jump out.

She wasn't supposed to be doing a lot of physical exertion for a while, so she was trying to take it easy. When Shippo didn't run up to greet her and there was no sign of Miroku or Sango, Kagome's mood dropped. InuYasha seemed to notice, because he took her hand in his.

"They don't know I found you, yet. Shippo is with Kaede, so you'll see him soon. We'll have to look for Sango and Miroku."

"Okay," Kagome said, feeling a little better. InuYasha nodded, then walked beside her to the village, slowly, since she still couldn't walk very fast. She was tired and a little sore—especially her breasts, which were heavy with milk. She had a pump in her backpack, having been shown how to use it by a nurse, so she could keep her milk going until she was able to feed her own baby. It seemed so strange to her, thinking that she had a daughter. She was only sixteen, after all.

The walk seemed to take so much longer than usual, to Kagome, who almost asked InuYasha to carry her the last ten minutes of the trip. She was stubbornly intent on walking into the village on her own two feet. As soon as she could see everyone, she quickened her pace, wanting to see her friends as soon as possible. Shippo found her first, though.

"Kagome! Kagome!" Shippo called, running up to her.

"Shippo!" Kagome called back, holding out her arms for him to jump into. He did so, laughing joyously. They spent several minutes just saying hello and Kagome gave him several pieces of candy she had brought back with her in her excitement. Shippo stashed most of them away for later, being too happy from seeing Kagome to be very interested in the sweets. Kaede greeted them with a smile as well and invited them down to her hut for some lunch, but they declined. "I want to find Sango and Miroku as soon as possible," Kagome explained.

"Ah, yes. They passed through here only a few days before," Kaede told her.

"Good, then they'll be easy to track," InuYasha said. "Which way did they go?" Kaede pointed them in the right direction and they set off. It didn't take them too long before they found the monk and demon slayer and were all back together again. They spent the evening talking about the last several months that they hadn't seen each other and what had happened. There was a lot of startling news all around, but Kagome tried to keep the conversation away from herself as much as possible. InuYasha didn't have much to contribute, preferring to let everyone else talk, but he did finally impart one piece of information that shocked Kagome to the core.

"Kikyo died?" Kagome repeated.

"Yeah," InuYasha said. "Naraku killed her."

"And he has a new body and a new incarnation," Miroku added.

"But… if Kikyo's dead, then how…"

"How what?" InuYasha asked impatiently.

"How is the shikon no tama going to be purified?" Kagome asked. She hadn't imagined that she would be the only one left with the power to even sense the jewel. And now she didn't think she could do anything even if they found it. Without Kikyo…

"Whatta ya mean?" InuYasha asked, confused. "You'll purify it."

"But… I don't have my miko powers anymore," Kagome revealed quietly.

"Where did they go?" Shippo asked when everyone else went silent. When no one answered him, he tried another question. "Is that why you smell funny?"

"Huh? I smell funny?" Kagome repeated.

"It's the milk," InuYasha explained.

"Milk?" Sango asked.

"Did Kagome have a baby?" Shippo asked. All eyes except InuYasha's were fixed on Kagome. Slowly, she nodded. "Why didn't you tell us, InuYasha?" Shippo demanded.

"Because I didn't know," InuYasha said, snatching the kit's dinner away from him.

"Hey!" Shippo protested, trying to grab it back. Kagome sighed and held out her dinner to Shippo, but InuYasha's eyes grew wide and he handed the fox back his food, shoving Kagome's back at her. Everyone stared at him in shock, even Shippo.

"What?" InuYasha demanded. "The doctors said she needs to build up her strength. She can't do that if she goes and gives her dinner away!"

"So, is it a boy or a girl?" Sango asked softly after she recovered from the shock of InuYasha returning Shippo's food.

"A girl," Kagome answered.

"And her name's Tama," InuYasha said. Kagome smiled at him and he swelled up a bit; she could tell he was happy with his choice of names as Miroku and Sango both commented on it being pretty.

"Why didn't you bring her?" Shippo asked.

"She was born too soon," Kagome explained. "She has to stay with the doctors until she gets bigger."

"She can't even breathe on her own," InuYasha said. "She has machines doing it for her. If she had been born here, she would have died."

"Is she a hanyo, too?" Shippo asked innocently. InuYasha opened his mouth and closed it.

"No, she—" Kagome began, but InuYasha cut her off.

"She's not a hanyo and that's all you need to know," he snapped. "Now go to sleep."

"What a grump," Shippo whined, but happily hopped over to Kagome as she unrolled her sleeping bag.

"It's okay, Shippo," Kagome said, lying down. "You'll get to meet her later."

"Okay," he said. "Good-night, Kagome!"

"Good-night."

_**To be continued… **_

_A/N: Miko means 'temple virgin' and is a Shinto position. Shinto is about purity and even though it wasn't her choice, Kagome's no longer pure. Don't worry, she's Kagome and she won't put up with being helpless for long. Hopefully, we'll see a return of the Kagome who can tell off a giant holding her in the palm of his hand soon._


	18. Guts

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 18**

Kagome stepped out of the forest, putting away the roll of toilet paper she always brought with her and started walking towards camp, enjoying the soft breeze blowing through the trees around her. She only made it a few steps before Sango appeared in front of her. Kagome jumped, startled at her friend's sudden appearance.

"Tama isn't InuYasha's," Sango queried. Kagome shook her head. "But he's okay with her?"

"He named her," Kagome confirmed, feeling her heart warm as she remembered. "He says that she's his."

"Wow," Sango said, falling into step beside Kagome. "Miroku…" Sango stopped and Kagome turned to her. The taijiya took a deep breath before continuing. "He… he asked me to marry him," Sango finally managed to say. Kagome squealed and clapped her hands together.

"You said yes, right?" Kagome asked, excited. Sango smiled back, happy to see Kagome acting like her old self again.

"Yes," Sango said, blushing. She smiled broadly when Kagome laughed, so happy to hear that sound again. She had been afraid it was gone forever.

"I'm so happy for you, Sango-chan!" Kagome said. Sango indicated that they should go back to the group, but didn't stop smiling. Kagome was glad to see Sango smiling. It seemed like she had rarely seen it in the time she had known the demon slayer girl. Kagome wanted to run over to Miroku and thank him for putting a smile on her friend's face, unaware that she had brought the wide smile herself.

"Kagome!" InuYasha's panicked voice carried past the trees and she sighed.

"Good grief, I just had to go to—aaaaah!" she shrieked as a huge worm came barreling at her. She jumped to one side while Sango jumped to the other, reaching for Hiraikotsu. Before she could draw it, InuYasha swung the Tetsusaiga and cut the worm youkai into pieces. Kagome was still shrieking at it when she was covered head to toe in gore. She stood there, shaking in horror as a trail of slime slid down her forehead.

A second later, her shrieks of disgust filled the forest and InuYasha flinched away from the smell rising up from the remains. Kagome batted at the larger chunks, knocking them off her skin, but she just succeeded in smearing the viscous junk in her hair all over her hands and face. Finally, she stopped spinning in circles and jumping around and just stood there, looking miserable. InuYasha and Sango stared at her, covering their noses and trying to look sympathetic while fighting the urge to gag.

"Why… why can't they all disappear when they die?" Kagome wailed. "Why do some of them have to leave parts behind?"

"What's going on? Is Kagome-sama… ugh," Miroku groaned as he skidded to a halt in front of Kagome, bringing his hand up to cover his nose. Shippo, who was sitting on his shoulder, jumped over to Sango in a hurry.

"One day back in the feudal era and I'm already… I need a bath, now!" Kagome howled. InuYasha jumped up and ran off into the forest, presumably looking for a body of water. In the meantime, Kagome stood very still, her arms away from her body, trying not to touch the hardening debris all over her. Sango and Miroku had retreated a safe distance from the stench and tried to offer comforting words, but they could only imagine how bad it must be to be covered in the foul-smelling mess.

A few minutes later, InuYasha came back and pointed Kagome in the direction of a small lake at the bottom of a waterfall and escorted her to it—staying a safe distance upwind the entire time. He waited in the bushes as she stripped and threw her clothes in the lake—not caring if she ever saw them again or not. She dove in and swam over to the waterfall and sat under it for a good half hour before she felt her hair was close to clean. She just relaxed and let her mind clear under the heavy curtain falling around her body, shivering a little from the cold. She watched the sunlight sparkling off the blue-green water and danced her toes in the mist rising from the rocks she was perched on.

Sitting in the waterfall calmed her and the water pounding down on her body made her actually feel lighter, rather than heavier, as she climbed out of the water when she finally felt clean. She fished out the clothes, which were mostly clean and beat them against a rock before making a rack out of loose sticks to dry them on. She carefully took some dry clothes out of her bag, wiping it clean and spraying her perfume on it in an attempt to destroy the remains of the odor before she changed. When she turned around, InuYasha was staring at her, his eyes lingering on where some of the worst scars had been on her body.

She looked down, not even having the energy to yell at him for peeking, afraid this was where he would reject her. The scars the youkai had left on her body were thick and ropey and she thought they were terribly ugly. InuYasha suffered serious wounds and never scarred, so she figured he wouldn't want a girl that was covered in them. She started shaking, waiting for him to tell her that he didn't want her anymore and chewed on her bottom lip, unable to start a conversation.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to find you. I'm sorry I failed to protect you," InuYasha finally whispered and Kagome looked up to find him staring at the ground, clenching his fist so that his claws dug into the palm of his hand. That wasn't what she was expecting at all! She took a tentative step towards him, holding out her hand and he looked over to it, but didn't take it. She let it fall to her side, looking away.

"It wasn't your fault," Kagome told him, again, wishing she could convince him. "But… you don't need to feel obligated to stay with me. If you don't want me anymore—" Kagome didn't get another word out before InuYasha grabbed her and pulled her close. She balled the fire rat kimono in her fists and buried her head against his shoulder. His arms tightened around her and she cried against his shoulder. He didn't tell her to stop this time and she realized that he was shaking in her embrace as well. She looked up and his eyes were shining, but no tears had fallen.

"Why would you say that?" he asked, his voice thick. "I told you that I wanted you to stay with me."

"You… you hadn't seen the scars," she whispered back, avoiding his eyes. "You hadn't seen how ugly I am now." There was a moment of silence before he lifted her chin so that she was looking him in the eyes.

"You… are… not… _ugly_," he growled. "I'm sorry I ever said you weren't pretty. I was lying. I've never once believed that." Kagome almost made a snotty remark, but then she realized what he had just said and she blushed and pushed away, suddenly shy. There was too much intensity in his eyes and she wasn't ready for that. Her heart was racing and for the first time in months, it wasn't in fear. She smiled up at him, so that he knew she wasn't upset, then turned and went to retrieve her bag.

_**To be continued…**_


	19. From The Shadows

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 19**

Kagome looked down into Tama's honey brown eyes as she carefully fed her the way the nurse had shown her how. She was bottle-feeding for now to prevent introducing too many germs to her daughter. The tiny baby was still hooked up to machines, but she was able to swallow on her own and her lungs were finally functioning on their own. The doctors had to keep a close eye on her, since she had already had one failure with her breathing and had to be put back on the machine for a while, but she had made it three whole days this time on her own.

InuYasha watched from the other side of the glass. Kagome smiled up at him and he smiled back reassuringly. Kagome looked back down at Tama and watched her teeny lips moving against the nipple of the bottle. She felt serene and happy, just holding her baby. She couldn't relax, because she was nervous about holding her, afraid she'd drop her or pull on her wires or something if she wasn't super-careful. InuYasha wouldn't even try, he was so afraid of hurting her.

"When she's bigger," he said, each time they visited. She was gaining weight in a good way and was up to five pounds. In just a few weeks, she would be going home with Kagome. Her mother agreed to watch Tama while Kagome was at school and Kagome had passed two of her makeup tests already. They went through the well each day to get news, but since InuYasha didn't intend to leave Kagome alone again, he came right back through with her so she could go to cram school and learn what she needed to make up the work she had missed all year.

Kagome's depression came and went and her mother told her that it was the same for her, right after each of her children were born. Souta had done as he promised and whenever he would have cried in his room, he had gone to Kagome to talk instead. A few times, he had cried on her shoulder, but she didn't mind. She was just glad he was finally talking about it. It was hard for her to hear, but she felt so bad that he had heard her that she forced herself to talk about it with him. Somehow, it got easier to talk about that way and a part of her was able to let it go.

Kagome decided to start seeing a counselor when she realized that talking was helping and despite having InuYasha in the room when she had to talk to the police, she couldn't bring it up with him again. It was too embarrassing for her. So she had seen a psychologist, once. It had helped a little and she told Souta he should try it. He said that he preferred to talk to her and wouldn't be comfortable telling a stranger about her, so she played counselor for him.

Tama finally stopped suckling and fell asleep and Kagome knew it was time to leave. She handed the baby back to the nurse, sadly, and watched as she was put in the incubator. Kagome smiled and talked to her daughter a little bit, then turned and left. She walked silently down the hallway with InuYasha until they stepped outside the hospital doors. They made it halfway to the bus stop before she realized that she left her bag behind.

"Oh, no!" Kagome said, cursing herself. "I forgot my backpack!"

"I'll go get it, just wait here," InuYasha said, turning around.

"Are you sure?" Kagome asked, a little nervous.

"Yeah, it'll only take me a minute. You can finish going to the bus stop if you want," he said. She nodded and he turned and hopped out of sight within moments. She turned to go to the bus stop and only made it a few steps before she felt someone too close behind her. She started to turn and then she was grabbed and pulled off the street into an alley. Kagome tried to scream, but a hand clamped over her mouth in such a familiar way that she froze on the spot. She was spun around while she was still immobilized by terror and she ended up staring into a face full of black hair and a black baseball cap.

"Yukio," she gasped, not needing to see his face to know who it was. Still, he slowly lifted the hat off and revealed his eyes—the same eyes that haunted her nightmares so very often. Everything felt foggy, her body didn't seem to want to obey her commands to run and there was an ache building in her chest. Memories of being pinned down, helpless and in pain, flashed through her mind so fast she felt as though she was falling. The darkness was closing in as the daylight was robbed from her and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"Hello, Kagome," he replied, his voice calm and cold, a dagger to her heart. "No more 'Yuki-kun'? Decided to drop the sweet act, you little bitch?" he hissed, bringing his face close to hers. She could smell his breath, rank with his last meal, suffocating her. Kagome's heart was slamming into her chest; she felt like she couldn't breathe and everything seemed a little off, like a dream. She could almost step out of her body and watch from above, rather than being trapped by the arms on either side of her head. But she knew this wasn't a dream. She had never seen him bearing the scar that InuYasha had branded him with and it was clear and pale on his forehead. It wasn't the thin kanji she wrote in at school, but more like brush kanji, thickening and thinning as was appropriate to the two characters.

"W-w-what do you want?" Kagome stammered, trying to clear her mind. It was screaming at her that she should hide, run, _get away_; but it wasn't supplying any way to do so. Time seemed to have stopped, leaving her suspended in hell with the boy that haunted her.

"I wanted you to see what that little fuck of a boyfriend you had did to me. I wanted to see how you were doing. You do look like shit," he said softly. "I suppose that's my fault. Do I come to you at night, Kagome? Do you scream for me in your dreams?" he laughed lowly.

"Get away from me," she said, her voice no longer shaking. She just wanted to get away. Get away, get away; _get away_!

"Make me. Oh, that's right, you can't. Poor weak little Kagome," Yukio said, tracing a finger down her cheek. Kagome finally came to her senses and put her hands on Yukio's shoulder, then brought her knee up as hard as she could into his groin. He yelled and fell to his knees and she ran for it. She ran straight into InuYasha as she reached the street. He grabbed her shoulders and she went still, seeing his nose twitch. A loud growl filled the street a moment later and his hat twitched on top of his head.

"Where is he? He _touched _you. I'm going to—"

"No, InuYasha, please, I just want to go home. _Please_, I want to leave." Kagome was starting to shake and InuYasha stopped growling long enough to look down at her. He saw the raw pain and fear in her eyes and put the bag on her shoulders, then grabbed her hand and led her away. He wasn't going to make her stand there in fear… not when he could just track the boy later. "Thank you," she whispered as the bus stop came into view.

"Did he hurt you?" InuYasha asked as they found a seat on the bus and sat down.

"Not physically," Kagome said. "He just grabbed me and started taunting me. I… I kneed him in the groin and ran," she said. InuYasha's hat twitched and his eyebrows went up. "The last time, I couldn't get a single attack to connect. I guess… I guess he wasn't fighting this time. I think he just wanted to make me afraid."

"Looks like he got what he wanted," InuYasha said. Kagome frowned and looked up at him. The adrenaline that had her shaking shifted again at his words, echoing Yukio's proclamation so many months ago through her mind as clear as though the memory were only days old.

"That son of a bitch," she hissed, a fine, hot anger settling in. A woman nearby shot her a reproving look, but she didn't notice. "I… I'm not going to… let him have what he wants again!" InuYasha nodded slightly. "I… I hate him," Kagome managed to say.

"Me, too. I just wish you'd let me kill him," InuYasha agreed. The woman who had glared at Kagome now shot InuYasha an apprehensive look and looked around the bus.

"You can't just go around killing people," Kagome said with a sigh.

"I know," InuYasha said. Kagome looked over at him in surprise. "I remembered what it felt like when I killed those men that one time…" This time, the woman stood up and quickly hurried down the bus, deciding that it was better to stand than sit next to them. "I don't ever want to feel like that again. But… I won't ever forgive him. I really hate him and I want him to suffer…" Kagome leaned against his shoulder.

"I think he has been," Kagome said softly. InuYasha looked down at her, but she didn't meet his gaze. "His eyes were shadowed, he looked thinner… He said I look like… that I look bad, but… he looked horrible himself." Kagome felt a certain amount of satisfaction as she recalled the unhealthy pallor of his skin.

"Good," InuYasha said with conviction. Kagome couldn't help but agree with him. After all, Yukio had brought it on himself.

_**To be continued…**_

_** Thank you **so much to all my reviewers, you have no idea how much it means to me to know what people think of my stories! I'm always writing one thing or another and it's discouraging when writing long things if I don't have readers, which is why I post in chapters. This story has been updated much faster than it's been written and I'm trying to keep ahead of myself in chapters, so if I'm struck with a particularly nasty case of writer's block, it won't affect your updates. Unfortunately, losing my home is a huge blow and that's why the updates are slowing down. I have to try to find a new place to live and balance real life and writing. Beleive me, I'd much rather be writing! So just hang in there and bear with me, I really appreciate your support, everyone! --Xak  
_


	20. Catching Up

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 20**

"What I still don't understand, is why the demons took you and not me," Sango said softly one afternoon when Shippo was off playing. InuYasha looked over, as did Miroku, waiting for the answer.

"They said… it was because my purity had been recently taken," Kagome answered. InuYasha had tried prodding her for this answer several times, but she hadn't been able to talk about it. "They said that, if just a few more days had gone by, I would have been useless to them."

"Why?" InuYasha asked.

"I'm not sure. All the girls… all the girls they had… lost…" Kagome stopped, unable to finish her sentence. She took a moment to convince herself that it was over and talking about it wouldn't make it come back. She forced herself to keep her eyes open so the images didn't spring to mind and looked at Sango. "Many of the girls were new brides. A few were like me…" Kagome looked back down at the ground. "They took… took my blood," Kagome said, holding out her arm to show the knife scar. Everyone leaned in and Kagome curled back in on herself. She yelled at herself inwardly, '_Come on, Higurashi, I thought we were moving past this!_' and held her arm out again, proud when it didn't shake.

"Why blood?" Miroku asked and Kagome sighed with relief when she didn't flinch. She had seen the hurt in Miroku's eyes when she had avoided him, but the thought of him sneaking a grope had terrified her so badly that she had become afraid of even the sound of his voice. She had been afraid of his anger after the attack, especially after the way that one policeman had acted in her room, like it was her fault. She understood that it wasn't. The grief counselor at the hospital had made certain of that before she left after her examination, but she was afraid other people blamed her.

The woman had looked at the new bruises on Kagome's throat and pointed them out to her, saying that no matter what the outcome of the charges against Yukio, especially since he was so young, it was in no way Kagome's fault. InuYasha had piped up from the corner of the room, '_Damn right, it's not,_' and her mother had smiled at her, nodding in agreement. She might not have believed her mother, or even the stranger—after all, she was trained to make people feel better. But InuYasha was always quick to blame her if she did something wrong. With all three of them telling her that it wasn't her fault, she had no choice but to believe them.

"Kagome-chan?" Sango prodded and Kagome realized she had spaced off.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "I don't know why they needed blood. But all the girls said they took some of theirs, too. Then, most of the brides were taken home to their husbands, but some of them, all of us who had been… had been…" Kagome stopped again, then forced herself to continue, "Forced out of our… purity… We were given to a group of youkai who used humans as slaves and sold them later."

"Maybe they feed on the blood of girls who have recently lost their purity?" Miroku offered. Sango nodded.

"I've heard of mononoke like that," she said softly. "They're famous for stealing new brides from their husbands. Some don't ever make it back and most don't remember what happened to them. But no one's ever seen them well enough to describe one."

"What did they make you do?" InuYasha asked, ignoring Sango's explanation.

"Not much," Kagome said. "Any time I didn't want to do something, I just didn't do it and they… beat me," Kagome said quickly. "When I started taking care of some of the other girls, they decided that's what I would do—I acted as a healer most of the time." Kagome's mind flashed back to the girls she used her body to shield so that they wouldn't be beaten to death for making meaningless mistakes. Kagome had watched a girl die under their care in the first day and had vowed not to watch it again.

She had failed at least twice in escaping because she had gone back to rescue another girl and once because she had tried to free them all. They had told her after that, that if she had a chance, to take it. She had wanted to get away badly enough that she agreed to it, hoping that she would be able to find InuYasha and bring him back to save them. Then, one night, one of the youkai had tried to take her to his bed and she had fought, tooth and nail. Another of the girls saw it and stopped him from raping her by offering herself in Kagome's place. It was one of the girls Kagome had saved from a terrible beating and Kagome had cried all night, remembering the way the girl turned to smile at her as she walked off to fill the youkai's bed.

They decided that she was too much trouble after a month and started trying to sell her in every village they came near, but she sabotaged every attempted sale except for one. She had tried to facilitate that sale, actually, because the man who was trying to buy her had looked on them with kind, pitying eyes. But he only had enough money for one of them and Kagome knew that the girl standing next to her had caused even more trouble than she had. The youkai had told her that if no one bought her, they would kill her after the auction. So Kagome had signaled him to buy the other girl and watched her opportunity slip away, losing most of the hope and spirit she had left.

The next auction, she was bought. The man didn't touch her except to hit her when she did something that he decided was wrong, but she had lost all hope of ever being rescued. She had still tried to escape at every opportunity, but by her seventh month of pregnancy, she was so starved and the baby was so heavy, she had to give up.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to its owner. InuYasha let go and walked off and she stood to follow him. She looked back at Sango and Miroku, who looked puzzled, and smiled at them. They both smiled back and Kagome hurried to catch up with InuYasha's retreating form. They walked a while before he finally stopped and looked off into the distance, not saying anything for a few minutes.

"Anything you couldn't say around them, you can tell me," InuYasha offered. Kagome's eyes widened. "I… I want to know."

"No, you don't," Kagome said, stepping close and taking his arm. "But you do want to know if I slept with any of them," Kagome said before he could protest. She felt him stiffen and laid her head against his shoulder. "I didn't."

"Did any of them… try?" InuYasha asked. Kagome was quiet for a while.

"Yes," she answered. "One of the slavers. But another girl took my place," she admitted. She let go of his arm, but before she could walk away, he grabbed her and pulled her back to hold against his chest. He started to open his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by a loud yell.

"Kagome!" Kagome felt InuYasha stiffen and a growl rose up into the air, almost as loud as the one he directed at Yukio.

"InuYasha," Kagome chastised, trying to stop the fight before it began. InuYasha pushed her away and put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Hi, Koga-kun," Kagome greeted as the wolf skidded to a halt just a few steps away. Koga looked at her silently and Kagome took a step back, frightened by his gaze. He was too thin, like she was, and looked like he had been in many fights recently. His eyes had roamed over her entire body like a starving man looks at his next meal.

"When did you find her, Dog-Crap?" Koga demanded. Kagome expected InuYasha to growl louder, but he surprised her by stopping entirely.

"Not long ago, only a handful of days," InuYasha answered. The look disappeared from Koga's face and Kagome relaxed a little. Then Koga's head dropped.

"So you won, then," Koga said. "You've already had a child with her." Kagome's eyes widened, then she remembered that Shippo could smell her milk. Koga looked at Kagome again and his eyes were sad. "You chose _him_, after all."

"I'm sorry, Koga-kun," Kagome said softly, then déjà vu gripped her and she clutched InuYasha's hand, remembering what Yukio had said right after she apologized for not choosing him. Koga hadn't been their ally until he decided that he was in love with her. What if he decided to attack now?

"You better take damn good care of her, Mutt-face," Koga growled. "If I hear you've let her get kidnapped or hurt again, you'll answer to me." Kagome relaxed as her nightmare moment passed and Koga turned and walked away. She wondered if they would see him again after this.

"He's been looking for you, too," InuYasha said quietly. "He even stopped looking for Naraku, trying to find you." Kagome looked up at InuYasha, but he turned and walked away, not saying another word. Kagome followed silently behind him, wondering about the way he was behaving. There was a calmness in him that hadn't been there before and Kagome couldn't help but think that InuYasha seemed to have grown up a little.

_**To be continued…**_


	21. Homecoming

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 21**

Kagome looked at her little girl, lying in her arms, completely free of tubes and wires and couldn't help the tear that traced its way down her cheek. She was so happy, she was finally getting to bring Tama home. She kissed her tiny cheek and smiled when Tama's mouth opened and closed a few times in response. Tama's eyes slid unerringly to InuYasha and Kagome smiled up at him. He was staring intently at the baby and she held her out to him.

"No, I'll break her, it's better if you—Kagome!" Kagome ignored his protests and put Tama in his arms. He held her carefully, not moving a muscle. Tama watched him, her own almost-golden eyes meeting his yellow ones, both transfixed on the other. She had the same gold flecks as her father, but it only made her look more like InuYasha, in Kagome's mind. Apparently, it did the same in his, because he lifted her up until his nose bumped hers and they were literally eye-to-eye. Kagome smiled when InuYasha's face broke into a wide grin. He looked over at her with that same smile in place and she nodded encouragingly. His eyes went wide and then he made a cradle with one arm and tried to reach for the carrier without bending forward at all.

Kagome finally had mercy for him and picked up the carrier so he could place the tiny bundle inside. He fussed with the blanket inside until she was only a little face peeking out and Kagome resisted the urge to kiss his cheek. He looked like a new father and she felt her heart swelling with happiness watching him with their baby. A pang of sadness swept through her that this couldn't have happened later, with InuYasha's own child in the carrier, but she pushed it away. She refused to be sad today. It was the day that their little family was going to start _being _a family and she didn't want anything to ruin it.

InuYasha picked up the carrier and held it tightly against himself. Kagome almost laughed at how protective he was being, now that he had held her. Before, he would shoot her wary glances and had avoided contact entirely. Now, it was as though that time had never happened. She walked next to him, peeking in at the baby and tugged the diaper bag higher on her shoulder, where it was competing with her school bag.

As they walked through the hospital lobby, Kagome heard some of the people whispering around her. She blushed when she heard someone call her a bad name and almost didn't notice that InuYasha had stopped in time to keep from running into him. He glared around the room over the baby carrier and the whispering stopped immediately. Still, Kagome didn't feel better. She had heard similar whispers in the halls at school, although she didn't tell anyone about them. Yuka and Eri had told off the people in her class and while Kagome wasn't sure what they said to the other kids, the comments and whispering had completely stopped and many of them had become friendly to her after the first week.

She had known it was going to happen, but she still couldn't be totally prepared for it. Not having a social life wasn't really a bad thing, since she didn't have time for one anyway, but she still felt like she was missing out on something. She was the only girl in her school that had a child, so she didn't even have any other girls around her age who understood to talk to. She never would have chosen to do something this reckless on her own and each day made her hate Yukio even more.

Kagome frowned and leaned against InuYasha, trying to banish the dark thoughts. Already, other people misunderstanding her situation had ruined her day. In school, they blamed the fact that she had given birth on her being in the United States during her pregnancy. She couldn't very well argue and say that she had been in feudal Japan where abortions weren't very available. She hadn't even had a chance to consider any options. Who knew what the people in the hospital thought? On the street, on the bus, walking home… everyone stared at them. Not everyone made negative comments and one young couple even smiled at them, but Kagome still felt miserable when she got home and was glad that InuYasha was carrying Tama the whole way.

"We're home," Kagome called as she entered the shrine and took off her shoes. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, pushing the thoughts of all those other people out of her mind. Souta walked slowly into the room, letting his mother pass him so he could peek out from behind her. Mrs. Higurashi wasted no time in walking over to Tama and taking her from InuYasha who looked very torn about giving up the little bundle.

"Hello, Tama," Mrs. Higurashi said softly, unwrapping the baby and taking her out of the carrier. She cradled her against her chest and looked down into her face and smiled. Tama blinked sleepily up at her and squinted curiously back into her grandmother's face. Souta tried to peek up at her and Mama leaned down so he could see. They both looked rather surprised to see each other and Souta leaned in until his nose was almost touching hers. Tama, her arms no longer bound by the blanket, reached out and grabbed his nose. His eyes crossed looking at her fingers attached to his nose and her hand shot up and grabbed a chunk of his hair.

"Hey!" Souta protested, then tried to pry her fingers off. InuYasha reacted immediately and hopped over to protect her tiny fingers from Souta's bigger ones.

"Be careful!"

"She's got my hair!"

"It's only hair, it'll grow back; you've got her fingers!"

"I'm not gonna hurt her!" Souta yelled back, pushing InuYasha's hands away. Tama released his hair and InuYasha growled lightly until he heard Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome chuckle.

"Why are you laughing?" InuYasha demanded. Mrs. Higurashi patted her hair and smiled.

"Before Kagome was born, I used to have longer hair," she said. "But Kagome pulled it so often that I cut it short very quickly."

"I was laughing because you're overreacting," Kagome said, taking her baby back. "Hair's nothing. When Mama and Dad brought Souta home from the hospital, he poked me in the eye and then peed on me.

"I did?" Souta asked, letting go of the hair he had been patting back into place.

"Yup," Kagome said. "And I told Mama to take you back and get a better one."

"Then she pouted for a week when we said that we couldn't," Mrs. Higurashi said, still smiling. Tama made a cooing noise and shoved her fist in her mouth and sucked on it and InuYasha's hat fell off from the force of his ears sticking up.

"She's hungry," he said. "You should go feed her," he prompted, nudging Kagome towards the stairs.

"Okay, fine, but you stay down here," Kagome told him.

"Why? I've watched you feed her before."

"This is different. I'm not going to use a bottle," Kagome said. Souta scrunched up his nose and turned away.

"Ew, nee-chan, I didn't need to know that."

"It's a natural process, Souta," Mrs. Higurashi said, patting his head.

"I don't care, she's my sister!" he grumbled back and then stalked out of the room. Kagome rolled her eyes and then went up the stairs.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Mama asked when she was halfway up. Kagome turned and smiled.

"Yes, please," she said, still nervous that she might do something wrong. The nurse had talked about how the baby might not make the seal right on her own or she might get sore because she didn't hold the baby right or a number of other things. She was nervous and the nurse said that could cause problems, too. So she took her mother's help gratefully and found it wasn't as hard as she was afraid of. Tama didn't refuse her—which was something she was terrified of, since she had been bottle fed this whole time—and fed like a pro. Mama stayed with her until she was sure she was doing it okay, and then let Kagome have time with her daughter alone.

InuYasha came in about fifteen minutes later and sat on her bed and watched. Kagome didn't mind at that point, as she had become comfortable with Tama. She told InuYasha to look away when Tama fell asleep and she turned away and put herself back in her bra without disturbing the sleeping baby. Then she stood up and walked over to her bed and laid Tama down on it on her back and watched her sleep. InuYasha sat on the other side of the baby and watched and Kagome smiled at him. He looked up at her in confusion.

"What are you smiling for?" he asked curiously.

"I feel like we're a real family," she answered. InuYasha turned his head to the side, then looked at the baby between them and smiled.

"But we are a real family."

"Not legally," Kagome muttered. InuYasha looked up.

"Does that matter?"

"I don't know," Kagome said. "I don't think Yukio will try to take her… but almost no kids are born with their parents not married."

"So? When you want to get married, we will," InuYasha responded without thinking. Kagome's eyes went wide and he blushed as he realized what he said.

"Are… are you proposing?" Kagome asked quietly.

"I thought… I thought I already did," he said. "I thought you knew I meant that I wanted to marry you. I… I tried to tell you, before you were kidnapped, that I had chosen you and wasn't going to see Kikyo anymore. But…"

"But I wasn't talking much then," Kagome finished.

"You… you do want to live with me, right?" InuYasha asked, carefully looking everywhere but at Kagome.

"Yes," Kagome answered, looking down at Tama.

"Then… you'll marry me, right?"

"Yes," Kagome answered in a whisper, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Okay, then," InuYasha said. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Well, there is one thing," Kagome said. "You're not a legal citizen of Japan. Since you don't have a birth certificate or anything. Otherwise, you could adopt Tama as your own daughter and they would take Yukio's name off her birth certificate."

"Well, how do I get one?" InuYasha asked.

"Uh… you have to be born in a hospital… I don't know how else," Kagome said. "I'm sure there's some illegal way to get one. I'll ask Mama and see if she knows." InuYasha nodded slightly, then looked down at Tama. "Should we take her to meet everyone?" Kagome asked.

"It's cold outside," InuYasha protested.

"We'll bundle her up. It will be fine, InuYasha. Besides, I don't think Shippo will be patient anymore. He kept asking how many days before he got to meet her."

"You shouldn't have told him," InuYasha admonished, but stood up when Kagome did. They worked together to figure out the baby sling and once it was secured to Kagome, they looked at each other and InuYasha took Kagome's hand. "Let's go, then," he said. Kagome nodded and they set off to go back to the feudal era.

To be continued… 

_And since I've kept you up on the statistics, the chances that Kagome would have actually given birth to this child in modern Japan are slim to none. America has sixteen times the number of teenage births (ages 14-19) as Japan, which has the fewest in the world. Not because they aren't having sex, although those numbers are much lower, too, but because there isn't a big pro-life/pro-choice debate there. Rather than being looked down upon for having an abortion, they're criticized if they **don't **(abortion is also done differently there and they don't pretend they're not killing a baby, but name the baby and write a letter to the child explaining why they did it). And adoption is frowned upon, unless it's within the family. But the number of children without families in Japan is incredibly low—only about 25,000. I keep my own personal opinions on these matters out of my stories as much as possible. My position and beliefs aren't important—the characters' are. In the feudal era, it would have been a crime, as well as unsafe to have an abortion. In modern Japan, it's legal and widely used. I wrote another story that dealt with this on a much more extensive level. In this story, it's only going to be this footnote._


	22. Setback

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 22**

They stood in front of the well and Kagome's family wished them a safe trip. InuYasha took Kagome's hand and they jumped down into the well. Kagome felt something was wrong halfway through, though and then suddenly, her feet were on the ground and she felt lighter. She reached back and felt InuYasha lifting her hair at the same time, but she knew from the feel that something was missing.

"Tama!" she shrieked, spinning around and looking for her baby on the ground. InuYasha didn't waste any time looking, he grabbed her around the waste and with an angry curse, he jumped out of the well and back down again. They floated, unable to enjoy the peace of the transport because of their tension and Kagome would have sworn the well took longer than ever to put her back down on the other side. Then she heard a baby cry.

InuYasha had Tama in his arms before Kagome had even turned and was examining her for injuries. He jumped out of the well before Kagome could ask if Tama was okay and she stood there, surprised at being left behind until his head poked down.

"You coming?" he asked. She climbed the ladder up to the top, where her mother was holding her daughter and looking confused.

"Tama can't go through the well?" Souta queried, looking at his niece.

"I guess not," Kagome said, taking her daughter back. "I didn't even think twice about it… I mean, I spent most of my pregnancy in the feudal era and she went through the well repeatedly when she was inside me."

"What will we do?" InuYasha asked as Kagome tried to get Tama to stop crying. Tama screamed over and over and Kagome just headed back to the shrine, giving up on the well for the day. InuYasha followed her, peeking over her shoulders and arms to check on the baby. Finally, he took her right out of Kagome's arms and stuck his face in her face. She stopped and stared at him and he smiled at her. Kagome watched as Tama started to cry again and he lowered his head so she could grab his hair. This caught her attention and she noticed the twitching white ears and grabbed one of those instead.

Kagome watched with amazement as InuYasha, flinching, carried the baby without prying her tiny grip away from his ear, all the way into the house, up the stairs and into Kagome's room, where he laid down on the bed next to the Tama and let her tug his ears. Kagome watched them, kneeling by the bed with her head on her arms for a while and laughed at the faces InuYasha was making.

"You know, you'll be sorry if you let her get into the habit of playing with your ears," Kagome warned him. He looked up at her.

"I'm only letting her do this 'cause we left her behind in the well. I gotta do _some_thing to make up for it." Tama's fascination with his ears seemed to wane, though and she slowly sank into a peaceful sleep. Kagome rolled her onto her back and smoothed the tiny bit of hair she had to her soft head. She looked so peaceful now and Kagome had an idea. She stood up and went downstairs to find their camera. She finally had to ask her mother where it was and then Souta before she found it and walked quickly back to her room. She snapped a picture from the doorway of InuYasha peacefully looking down at Tama and he sat up, staring at her in surprise.

"I'm taking pictures to show everyone back in the sengoku jidai," she explained, then stepped closer to Tama and took a close-up picture of the sleeping infant. She handed the camera to InuYasha. "Here, take one of me with her," she said, then took his place on the bed after pointing out where he looked through and which button to push. She smiled up at him and he snapped the picture, surprised when it worked.

"Did you find the camera, nee-chan?" Souta asked, leaning against her doorway.

"Yup, thanks, Souta," Kagome said. "How many pictures are left on it? I want to get them developed as soon as possible," Kagome asked. InuYasha looked at the camera in confusion and Souta reached out and took it from him.

"Just one," Souta answered. "Want me to take a picture of all three of you?"

"That's a great idea!" Kagome exclaimed. She sat up and carefully picked up Tama, then waited for InuYasha to join them on the bed. He sat down and she held Tama out so that he was holding her, too and smiled at the camera.

"Smile," Souta said and then snapped the picture. Tama woke up and started crying, so Kagome laid her back down on the bed, stretched out next to her and prepared herself for however long it would take to calm her daughter back down.

_**To be continued…**_

_Sorry to everyone who was looking forward to seeing how everyone in the feudal era was going to react, but since Souta can't go through the well… You get the picture! Also, I dunno if I say this enough, but thank you all who review! I love hearing what you think of my story!_


	23. Learning

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 23**

Kagome opened her eyes, blinking away the remains of a dream she couldn't remember and looked for what had caused her to wake. Eri nodded her head at the front of the classroom and Kagome sat up, her English book's page tearing slightly as she rose, since it was stuck to her cheek. Blushing, she pressed the page flat and looked at the teacher, who was glaring at her.

"Did I interrupt a good dream, Higurashi?" the teacher asked and Kagome blushed harder.

"No, Sensei," she answered. "Where did you ask me to read from?"

"Page one-twenty-one, please," he said with a sigh. Kagome flipped to the correct page and started reading. She tripped over several words and found one entire sentence incomprehensible, but she knew that she had still improved a lot since she had resumed school. "Thank you, Higurashi," the teacher said and she sat down and smiled at Eri who was grinning at her.

As soon as the class was over and they had bowed for the teacher, Yuka walked over to where they were sitting and smiled at Kagome.

"You did great, especially for someone who's been asleep for most of the class!" Yuka said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, I had plenty of time to study while Tama was eating… every two freaking hours. And when I had to change her diapers. And when she just couldn't sleep and just laid there crying, I read to her from my English book," Kagome added with her own chuckle. "I had InuYasha hold the book for me," Kagome added absently. "I didn't think I'd actually absorbed any of it."

"Your boyfriend's living with you?" Eri asked and Kagome bit her lip as she realized her slipup. They had finally met him a few days before Tama came home and said they thought he was really cool, if he seemed like a bad boy type. His hair and eyes made them decide he must be half-foreign.

"Is he sleeping in your room?" Yuka added.

"Are you sleeping together?" Eri jumped on.

"Yes, yes and not how you mean. He sleeps on the floor," Kagome said.

"And he helps you take care of Tama?" Yuka asked.

"Is he going to adopt her? Oh! Are you getting married?" Eri leaned in closely and Yuka joined her.

"We… we've talked about it," Kagome said slowly. "He did ask me… to marry him," Kagome admitted.

"Did you say yes?" Both girls asked at once. Kagome blushed and nodded and they both fell back: Eri into her chair and Yuka took a step back from the desk. "Why didn't you tell us?" Yuka demanded while Eri asked, "When are you going to do it?"

"I haven't even told my mom yet," Kagome said.

"So he's your fiancé now, not your boyfriend," Eri pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but…" Kagome started.

"What kind of ceremony do you think you'll have?" Yuka interrupted.

"Well, I suppose I've always imagined a western ceremony, but I think he'll want traditional…" Kagome stopped and wondered what InuYasha had in mind. She imagined him in a tuxedo and grinned. Absently, she wondered if he would wear his fire rat kimono to the wedding. '_Well, red is a lucky color,_' she thought.

"Well, at least you won't have to worry about what shrine," Eri said, smiling.

"You'll invite us to the Kekkon Hiroen, right?" Yuka prodded.

"Of course," Kagome said. "But I don't think it will be until I finish school."

"That's best," Eri agreed. "Do you think you'll go to university?"

"If I can survive high school!" Kagome said, smiling. The chime sounded and Yuka walked back to her seat to prepare for the next class. Kagome laid her head back down and barely opened her eyes in time to stand for the next teacher. As she took her seat again, she groaned and realized that she was going to have to get Tama on a schedule as soon as possible or have InuYasha take on all of the nightly responsibilities. There was no point in her coming to class if she wasn't going to be awake for most of it.

Somehow, she got through the day and woke up during cleaning time. She absently swept a pile of dust out into the hall to leave whoever was responsible for the hall cleaning most of the work while Eri chatted at her as she cleaned the windows. Yuka was taking out the trashcans and Kagome suspected she was dragging her feet on the way back to class. Her suspicions were confirmed when Yuka reappeared in the classroom ten seconds before the final chime of the day. Yuka and Eri went to their clubs after saying good-bye to Kagome, but she had to go straight home, so she went to her shoe locker and changed to her street shoes, almost alone in the room.

When she stepped out of the building, InuYasha was waiting for her, Tama strapped to his back. Kagome smiled and walked over to him and set her backpack down so he could transfer Tama over to her. He picked her bag up and slung it across his shoulder.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"It would have been better if I had been able to stay awake through more of it," Kagome answered, followed by a huge yawn.

"Do you want me to stay up with Tama tonight?" InuYasha asked.

"Yes, please," Kagome answered. "I wonder if Mama developed those pictures today," Kagome continued absently.

"Yeah, she did," InuYasha said. "I went with her."

"Really?" Kagome looked over at him. "You stayed here all day?"

"Yeah. I figure… if Tama can't go through the well, I have to stay here. So I need to learn about your time. Your mom took me around with her and explained a lot of things to me."

"Like what?" Kagome asked.

"Yen, for one," InuYasha said and pulled a handful of yen out of his pocket. "What it's worth and everything. And what that camera thing was and how it works. She told me about your school system and showed me how to change diapers and talked about some other things."

"Did she know anything about making you a legal citizen?" Kagome asked, blatantly ignoring a lascivious stare shot at her by a businessman walking by. He looked at InuYasha, who shot him a glare that made him face forward and speed up his step.

"Your grandfather did," InuYasha answered. "He said that he had some friends he could talk to that could make me a fake birth certificate, but that I would need to take a surname."

"Did your father have one?" Kagome asked. "I mean, wasn't he nobility?"

"Yeah, he was, but he didn't. Youkai don't have surnames, even lords."

"What about your mother? She looked like a princess."

"I don't know," InuYasha said. "Everyone called her Izayoi. I guess I could ask Myoga, but I don't think she had one, either. But I was thinking either Taji or Inoue."

"'Silver and yellow' or 'above the well?'" Kagome said. "They both suit you."

"Yeah, but Inoue suits us both and if you marry me, it will be your name as well."

"Inoue Kagome?" Kagome made a face. "They rhyme. Taji Kagome? Makes me sound like a basket." InuYasha gave a short laugh.

"Is Taji Tama better?" he asked.

"Inoue Tama… Jewel above the well," Kagome said. "I kinda like that."

"Although Inoue InuYasha sounds weird," InuYasha said. "But anything-InuYasha sounds strange to me."

"Taji InuYasha does work better," Kagome agreed. "I think Taji works best for you. It's not very common, though and Inoue is. How did you pick, anyway?"

"From a list your mom showed me on a computer," InuYasha answered. Kagome did a double take.

"A computer?"

"Yeah, it's like a television, only…"

"I know what a computer is!" Kagome exclaimed, laughing. "I didn't know that you did."

"Your mom taught me while we were out today."

"Wow, you learned a lot, huh?" Kagome said, impressed. InuYasha had always ignored her when she told him about things like that and she was a little jealous that her mother had got him to listen and learn so much in just one day.

"I told you, I need to learn about your time if I'm going to live here. She said these are things that people have to know."

"You were just never interested when I would tell you about this stuff," Kagome said with a slight pout in her voice.

"I didn't think I would ever need to know it," InuYasha explained. "What good would it do me, knowing that people made it to the moon hundreds of years after my time? If they lived there, that would have been different. But just going there and finding out it's nothing more than a big rock—that's boring."

"I suppose if you look at it that way, rather than looking at it like people will probably live there one day," Kagome said.

"Maybe, but who knows when that will be and if we'll live to see it?"

"Spoilsport," Kagome muttered. "I still think it's great."

"Keh," InuYasha stepped onto the bus and grabbed a hand bar behind Kagome. They were quiet for the entire ride, except when Tama started crying and Kagome had to spend five minutes trying to get her to stop. An older woman offered Kagome her seat until the baby fell quiet and could be put back in her sling. Then Kagome gave her back the seat and resumed standing. InuYasha surprised Kagome by paying his own fare after she swiped her bus card as they were getting off. She couldn't help but marvel at how well he was learning. She began to really believe he could fit in and they could be a family.

_**To be continued…**_

_Sorry about the length between updates. I've encountered a huge writer's block called gestation. I'm afraid that all my creative energies are currently focused on creating life. Hopefully, I'll get back into the swing of things in a while. In the meantime, the updates will be a bit slow to stretch out what I have written already. I won't abandon the story, though, so just stick around. It may take a while to come, but there **will** be an ending, barring my death or the death of my computer. Or blindness… couldn't type if I was blind… Okay, so barring any unforeseen disasters. Count on it. I finish what I start._

_**Japanese lesson for today**: Kekkon Hiroen is a Japanese wedding reception. Non-family doesn't go to the marriage ceremony itself, which is small and sometimes has two ceremonies—a traditional Shinto ceremony with only the immediate family members followed by a change of costume and a western ceremony with more people present, including non-family in some cases. Not all Japanese weddings are like this, but this is the average currently. Afterwards, they go to the Kekkon Hiroen (after another change of costume). If you're invited to the reception, you're expected to bring a gift of money (the amount depends on your relationship to the couple) with the average being thirty-thousand yen, which is about two-hundred and fifty dollars. The weddings are very expensive and these monetary gifts basically pay for it. I can say that would have been nice for my own wedding! We had to pay for everything ourselves! _


	24. Looking Back

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 24**

After Kagome unloaded all her school things in her bedroom, fed Tama and laid her down to sleep, she sat down and looked through the photos from the camera. Her eyes misted up when she saw the pictures from her graduation. She thumbed through, looking at people she hadn't seen in several months and a part of her missed the life she left behind when she fell through the well. She stared at a photo of a swollen-eyed Ayumi giving her a peace sign as they said good-bye. Kagome had barely seen the photograph as she snapped it. She may have missed a good deal of her third year, but she had spent most of her life for two years before that at the school, with those people.

She remembered when the worst thing she had to fear was a bad test score and laughed as she wiped her eye with the back of her hand. She smiled at the last picture of the four of them standing together, grinning for the camera, holding up peace signs. Her hand shook as she remembered that Yukio had been holding the camera and she knew what photo was coming next. She took a deep breath and moved the picture of her friends with her to the back of the pile and stared down at Yukio's face.

She didn't waste a second before ripping the photo into tiny pieces. Then she grabbed the picture of the two of them together and tore it up as well. She sat there with the pieces of photographs in her hand and trembled in anger for almost five minutes before she could see clearly again. Kagome stood up and threw the pieces in the trash and didn't look back as she returned to the package of photos. The next one was a picture of Yuka, before she had started wearing all the makeup she wore now. She kept trying to convince Kagome to wear makeup, but Kagome just didn't have time to worry about it. Then she put that photo at the back of the stack and came to the picture of InuYasha leaning over Tama, looking so peaceful she barely recognized him.

Kagome traced her finger over the image and smiled, then moved to the next picture. Her little girl looked so pretty, lying there asleep in the photo. Kagome moved to the next and smiled, happy that InuYasha had taken a decent picture of her. Then, finally, she looked at the picture of all three of them together and laughed. Kagome was smiling, Tama's eyes were slightly open and InuYasha was staring at the camera with a slightly defiant look on his face. '_Guess he didn't want to smile,_' Kagome thought. '_Well, it looks more like him this way, anyhow_.'

"You look happy there," InuYasha said from behind Kagome, making her squeal in surprise.

"Don't sneak up on me!" she admonished.

"Feh. Pay attention to what's going on around you, then," he retorted while sitting down next to her and peering at the photographs in her hands. She went through them again, telling him about her friends from junior high. For once, he sat and listened patiently to her and even asked a few questions about things in the images that puzzled him. After they were finished with the pictures, they sat and discussed things Kagome had always wanted to talk to InuYasha about. They lost track of time until Tama woke up and started crying for a diaper change.

Kagome was so happy after talking to InuYasha, despite a few arguments they had during the conversation, that she was humming as she changed Tama. InuYasha was surprised by how little it had taken to make her happy—just paying attention to the stuff she liked to babble on about. He remembered her saying that one of the reasons she liked Yukio was that he listened when she talked and he was trying to be the kind of boyfriend she wanted. And whenever he got bored, he could just start an argument with her to liven things up. He loved the way her eyes lit up when she was passionate about something.

He was incredibly nervous and agitated about not chasing after Naraku, but he understood why Kagome had to go to school now. And after school, she had to take care of her baby, which was a lot of work. InuYasha liked Tama—she was rather quiet, for a baby, and she always watched him like he was the whole world when he was taking care of her. Also, she was starting to look a little bit like Kagome, only with eyes more like his own and he couldn't help but think of her as his own. That made him think about having children with Kagome and he wondered if they would come out looking like Tama, or more like himself… or worse, like Jinenji.

If their children couldn't use the well, then Kagome would have to have them all in her time. If one of them came out looking like a monster… he had watched a few horror movies with Souta. He knew what this world thought of monsters, from experience. Back in his time, the child could have hidden himself, but now… He pushed the thoughts away. After all, he didn't even know if he could father children. He had never heard of a hanyo finding someone willing to mate with them if they lived to be old enough to create children. He didn't know if they would be almost human, or still a hanyo.

He didn't talk to Kagome about these things—after all, there was a chance that he wouldn't even survive the fight with Naraku to test his questions out. There was no need to worry her when there were already so many things she had to deal with. Finding out that she couldn't fight or purify the shikon no kakera anymore was a terrible blow. He had been frightened for her every time they entered the feudal era since. Sango was teaching her taijiya techniques, but he didn't think it was enough. Kagome's attempts at the weapons they tried had failed miserably thus far.

But thanks to Yukio, he no longer felt it was safe just to leave her in her own time. Kagome had told him that she was okay now, that he could go back and search for the final jewel shard, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was glad she wasn't afraid all the time anymore and she seemed to be back to her usual self, but he didn't trust her world any more than his own.

"You look lost in thought," Kagome said, bringing him out of his musings.

"I was thinking about going back to my time," he said.

"Yeah, we should do that. And I have a break next week, so we can go hunt for the last jewel shard," she added. He nodded, knowing that he couldn't argue her into staying put. He had tried and she had reminded him that the kotodama necklace had not been removed and he couldn't just bully her. "I'll go ask Mama to watch over Tama. We can go show everyone the pictures. They must wonder why we never came back when we said we would."

"You shouldn't have told Shippo," InuYasha said again. Kagome rolled her eyes, she had heard him say _that_ enough. A few minutes later, they were standing in front of the well, saying good-bye again.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: As always, thanks to the faithful who still read and review my story. I'm glad you're still enjoying it and I'm sorry about the change in life affecting my update rate. I hope you are all having a good year so far and that any misfortune that finds you leaves as quick as a bird in flight. As for the Japanese lesson—I suppose it's cultural this time. In photos, Japanese students hold up peace signs. I don't know why, but it's popular to do, especially in jr. high. And the girls and women over there are obsessed with makeup and most Americans feel they wear way too much._


	25. Onward

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 25**

This time when they jumped, they didn't have to worry about Tama and Kagome was able to enjoy the thrill of floating through time. Her feet had barely touched the ground before she heard:

"Kagome! Kagome! InuYasha! Kagome!" coming from the top of the well. Shippo was staring down, yelling his head off. Kagome looked up just a moment before InuYasha grabbed her around the waist and jumped up out of the well. Shippo was clinging to her before she was back on her own feet. "When you didn't come back? I got worried! Are you okay? You weren't attacked again were you?"

"It's okay, Shippo," Kagome assured him, giving him a hug. "We just couldn't bring Tama through and after we tried, she was so upset I didn't want to leave her. Then, I had to go to school and," Kagome yawned, "and I haven't been feeling up to the trip. I'm sorry," she told him.

"It's okay," Shippo said, looking down in disappointment. "I guess I just thought that since she was your baby, she would be able to come through like you do."

"So did we, Shippo," Kagome assured him. "But I brought pictures! Where are Miroku and Sango?"

"Oh, them? They're back in the village. They weren't as worried as I was," Shippo said, shooting a disapproving look towards the village. Kagome grinned at the kitsune's exuberance and started walking to her friends. Shippo chattered at her the entire way to the village, telling her about the progress they had made on looking for the fragment.

"What did you say?" InuYasha asked suddenly and Kagome stopped walking to look down at Shippo, so he would repeat himself.

"I said: we found out that Hakudoushi is looking to find a way to the boundary between this world and the next! So that's where the last shard would be, right?"

"I wonder how it got there," Kagome said softly while InuYasha started trying to think of a way to beat Hakudoushi to his destination.

"Apparently, he's been trying to find it for months," Shippo continued.

"How did you find out?" Kagome asked as they resumed walking.

"Well… he… he kinda told us," Shippo admitted.

"So we figure it's a trap," Sango continued, stepping out from behind a tree and startling Kagome. "Hello, Kagome-chan, welcome back," she said, smiling.

"Hi, Sango-chan," Kagome responded. "A trap?"

"It seems fairly obvious that he can't find a way in, so he's trying to use us to do so," Sango explained.

"Not surprising," InuYasha said quietly. "And, of course, it's going to work because we can't let him get to it first. Damnit!" InuYasha hit a nearby tree, startling a small flock of birds out of it.

"Where's Tama?" Sango asked.

"She can't go through the well," Kagome explained briefly. Sango nodded understandingly and motioned to Kaede's hut.

"We should go find Miroku and discuss our next plan," Sango said. Kagome nodded and InuYasha just started walking. A minute later, they were sitting outside the hut in a semi-circle and no discussion of the 'plan' was being made, due to Kagome pulling out the photos she brought with her.

"She looks so much like you, Kagome-sama," Miroku said, touching the picture and smiling.

"This is InuYasha?" Sango was asking about the photo in her hand, of the hanyo peacefully lying next to Tama.

"Yup. Hard to believe, huh?"

"Hey!" InuYasha protested.

"It's too bad I can't meet her," Shippo said sadly. "I was hoping we could play together when she got bigger."

"I know, Shippo, I'm sorry you won't get to meet her, too," Kagome said, patting his head as he sighed.

"Weren't we supposed to be discussing how to beat Naraku to the last shard?" InuYasha grumbled. Everyone handed back Kagome the pictures and settled down to talk seriously about strategy. It took them less than an hour to decide to 'fall for' Hakudoushi's trap and hope for the best. "We'll be pushing very hard and fast," InuYasha said, turning to Kagome. "Are you sure you can handle it? You can stay behind—"

"You know I'm going," Kagome said, sighing. "Mama will take care of Tama while we're gone. And I'll be okay." InuYasha knew better than to argue, so he nodded and stood up.

"Then let's get you home for now. We can leave after you get out of school on Saturday. That will give us and extra half a day instead of leaving on Sunday," InuYasha said and Kagome nodded.

"What are these 'days' you're speaking of?" Miroku asked, slightly confused.

"The days have names in Kagome's time," InuYasha explained. "Today is Wednesday, so we'll be back in three days. Then we can go after the final shard and hopefully, we'll get it before Naraku." Everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Where the hell did these fucking birds come from?" InuYasha yelled as he shot off the wind scar at a huge group of avian youkai.

"They look more like pterodactyls!" Kagome yelled as she clapped her hands over her ears to drown out a nearby 'bird' as it screeched horribly. InuYasha fought viciously to protect the first villagers they had found alive since leaving behind Hakudoushi's trap, which turned out to be a waste of time that nearly got them killed. But, of course, they had expected no less. Nearly a week had been wasted and they were trying to get Kagome home as fast as possible when they had come across the first exsanguinated body. Empty, burned out villages followed and Kagome had to accept that she was going to miss some school. They couldn't just let this go and hope for the best.

"I believe these are the beings responsible for destroying the other villages," Miroku yelled as one of the birds burst into flames. It hit the largest house and the villagers hiding within fled the burning building into the clutches of the vampire birds.

"There's no doubt about that!" InuYasha snapped as he swung at another bird, protecting an old man who cowered on the ground in fear. Kagome was frustrated at her inability to fight and just tried to avoid making herself a target. She watched Sango throw Hiraikotsu through several of the youkai and Miroku opened his wind tunnel. She was watching the birds disappearing into his hand when she saw…

"Saimyoushou!" Kagome's cry saved Miroku from sucking in the poisonous insects, although he was now down to his staff as a weapon. InuYasha chased after a smaller part of the flock that had cornered several villagers and that's when Kagome saw the birds headed for her. She turned and ran towards Sango, who was closest, but she knew she couldn't get there in time. She tripped and fell into the dirt, her hand brushing up against something familiar. She didn't spend any time in thought; she just grabbed the bow and knocked a nearby arrow, pulled and released as fast as she could. She had seen how ineffectual an ordinary arrow was against youkai, but she wasn't going to die without at least trying!

A pink light filled the sky and all the birds disappeared in a purifying cloud as Kagome stared, dumbfounded. She was so shocked that she almost didn't see a bird dive-bombing a little girl just a few meters away. The girl's shriek pulled her out of her daze and she barely took the time to aim the next arrow she found. It still struck right through the youkai, as she was hoping.

Her power was back.

**_To be continued…_**

_A/N: I chose to use the English words for the days of the week because it's simpler. But for those who want to know the days of the week (starting with Monday) in Japanese, they are: getsuyoubi (moon day), kayoubi (fire day), suiyoubi (water day), mokuyoubi (wood day), kinyoubi (gold day), doyoubi (earth day), and nichiyoubi (sun day). Note that Sunday and Monday are the same meaning as in English. And, as before, I'm sorry for the very long delay in posting, but as some of you know, I've been doing prenatal stuff, trying to buy a house and a new car (ours died) and right after we got the new van, we were in a bad accident and it was totaled. We've been so busy lately I just haven't had time to post this update and I'm really sorry, everyone!_


	26. Discussion

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 26**

"I don't understand," Sango said quietly after Shippo had fallen asleep. "I thought a miko had to be a virgin?"

"Well, in my time, no one's really sure about that anymore," Kagome answered. "Only the girls who dance for kami really have to be completely pure. And different shrines do it differently. I had a friend my first year in junior high that hated living in a shrine and doing the miko duties, but another friend said she got paid really well for it and wanted to dedicate her life to becoming a priestess. My grandfather talked about it a lot, but didn't really make me participate in much of anything."

"So, it is most likely just a measure of being pure," Miroku surmised. "In which case, I am not surprised that you have reacquired your powers, considering how often you bathe. You must have washed away the impurity of that boy long ago."

"I suppose the only way to know for sure is to get the last shard and see if I can purify it," Kagome said.

"We'll figure out how," InuYasha said. "I'm sure Naraku's already working on another way right now."

"Since he sent the saimyoushou out with those birds, do you think it has something to do with Abihime?" Kagome asked.

"I don't think she's one of his minions," Sango said.

"I believe he is trying to use her," Miroku agreed. "But I don't see how gathering human blood will get him into the border between this world and the next."

"Well, I don't know if he's planning that with her," InuYasha said, "But she's going around slaughtering humans and we just can't allow that."

"So are we going to go after her?" Miroku asked.

"She won't be hard to track, with the way she's coated in the scent of blood," InuYasha confirmed.

"But what about Kagome-sama?" Miroku continued. "Doesn't she have to go back and take care of Tama? And go to school?"

"But I can fight again now," Kagome began, but InuYasha interrupted her.

"Yes, she does. But Kirara can take her back and I'll stay and help fight Abihime."

"You can't just—" Kagome tried again.

"Kagome… it's not just you that I have to protect when I am protecting you," InuYasha said. "You must go back and go to school for Tama. I've seen how hard you have to study now… come back after school. Kirara will be waiting for you." Kagome sulked, but didn't argue anymore. That didn't mean she was done, however.

"What if something big happens? How will I know? What if you need me?" Kagome demanded. InuYasha was quiet.

"Check the well every day," Sango answered for him. "If we need you, we'll send Kirara and she will bring you back to us."

"All right, I give up," Kagome agreed. "But you better not get killed while I'm away!"

"Feh! I remember when you used to leave for days at a time and if I tried to stop you, you would sit me!" InuYasha growled lightly at the memory. Kagome grinned sheepishly.

"I guess I've been in the sengoku jidai too long; my priorities have changed," Kagome offered. InuYasha shook his head as he settled down to try to sleep against the wall near the door. He remembered her conversation with Eri, about going back to high school. She had sounded as though she had given up entirely. He supposed that she had and her mind had started making decisions without including school in the equations. She was almost back to the Kagome she was before, but these small things remained to constantly remind him of what she had lost. And what he had almost lost forever…

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, but it's a stopping point for now—there's about to be a jump forward as I move past the rest of the anime, as no progress is really going to be made in the story. I feel terrible for how long the updates have been stretched out, but I haven't been able to write anything in months, so you're just getting my cleaned up story that I've already had written. For anyone who wonders, yes, I'm recent with the manga from Japan, so I know Takahashi tainted Kagome, too, hehehe. Is that a great minds thing or just a kooky coincidence? Until next time, Take care!_


	27. Unexpected

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 27**

"InuYasha, hurry!" Kagome called out. She could hear his frantic footsteps approaching, but was afraid that he was going to be too late. She bit her lip and stared ahead, willing him to move just a little faster. Just in time, he burst into view as one small, shaky foot touched the ground. Another followed and Kagome held her breath, certain that this time was it. Sure enough, only a half a minute later, tiny hands clasped her own as Tama finished her first steps all on her own.

Kagome looked over to InuYasha, who was grinning ear to ear and she knew how important it was to him not to have missed this. Tama stomped her little feet in joy, squealing happily as Kagome held her up for a moment and then she looked over at the hanyou watching her and waved.

"Hi, Dada!" she called and then turned to him to try to make it the longer distance to where he was standing. InuYasha crouched automatically and held out his hands as she started toddling towards him. Kagome wiped away a very happy tear as Tama reached him and repeated her happy dance. InuYasha cheered and lifted her up above his head, making her shriek with laughter. Kagome stood up slowly, feeling the strain of the past week in every exhausted muscle of her body.

InuYasha watched her with no small amount of worry as she slowly crossed the room, looking like she might pass out at any minute. He knew the strain she had been under for the last year and a half was taking its toll on her and he was just glad for the break between her second and final years in high school. She needed to rest after the last terrible battle with Naraku. Miroku had taken in so much shouki that Kagome had to use every last bit of her purifying powers to save his life—again.

A year ago, Kagome had passed out after purifying as much as she could and couldn't help but feel that if she had been Kikyo, Miroku might not have this death sentence hanging over his head. She felt as though she had failed, being unable to stop some of the miasma encroaching on his heart and had pleaded with him not to use his kazaana again, lest the poison spread and kill him. He had begged her in return not to tell any of the others how badly he had been infected. Despite her better judgment, she had agreed and only the two of them knew that even if the kazaana was cured now, Miroku's life would still not be as long as an average man's unless they could find a way to purify the last of the shouki from his body. Still, it had turned out InuYasha had smelled it and really, only Sango hadn't been told the true extent of it—though Kagome often expected she knew anyway.

The new poisoning had been three days ago and she could barely move for an entire day after. Now, she was still drained and weak, but able to walk on her own again. She had come back home, leaving Miroku in the care of Sango, Shippo and Kohaku. While Koga was there, she doubted he was doing much with the group without her there. He may have given up on wooing her, but Koga still only seemed interested in talking to her and goading InuYasha when they were all together. In a way, it was relieving, that he hadn't really changed when she rejected him. But his focus on defeating Naraku was stronger than ever and Kagome was worried about the risks he took—as though he had nothing left to lose.

But then, so had Miroku. And Kagome herself—she had been forced to take breaks during the five days it had taken her to purify the miasma because it had started to kill her, as well. She still felt sick from it and was glad she was resting at home and didn't have to go back to school for another week. She worried about how vulnerable the last three shards were without InuYasha and her there to protect and purify them.

"Bonyuu, Mama!" Tama exclaimed, leaning against Kagome's legs when she came close. Kagome nodded and sat down and Tama crawled into her lap and pushed up her shirt to nurse. InuYasha smirked at her when he got a flash of breast and she stuck her tongue out at him. She had come a long way from the nervous teenager hiding in her room every time her baby was hungry. And InuYasha was no longer shy about openly flirting with her. Tama fell out of Kagome's lap without warning and Kagome grabbed her at the last second before she hit the ground. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Has the doctor called?" InuYasha asked as he knelt down to help Kagome lift Tama back into her lap.

"Yes. He said we need to go in today, that he can't tell me the results over the phone." Kagome ran her hand gently over her daughter's hair, revealing small red marks on her pale skin. "But they definitely know what's wrong." InuYasha nodded and went to the hall closet to get the baby carrier. When Tama finished nursing, she had fallen asleep and InuYasha lifted her softly onto Kagome's back and held her there while Kagome tied the carrier on. A few minutes later, they were sailing through the air over Tokyo on InuYasha's back. Kagome rested her cheek on his shoulder and breathed deeply of the air as it passed through his hair. She loved few things as much as she enjoyed these moments on his back, watching the landscape pass beneath them.

Too soon they landed in front of the clinic that housed Tama's doctor. They walked in and signed the sheet; glad to see it wasn't too busy that day. A short wait seemed unbearable enough, given the dire tone of the call earlier. And it wasn't made easier when they were called forward, taken back to a private room and left alone for a few minutes after the doctor reviewed Tama's chart. When he came back, he gave them the bad news.

"Tama has a rare condition called Aplastic Anemia," Dr. Tanaka informed them. "She has a severe form that I'm afraid cannot be treated without a bone marrow transplant."

"What's that?" InuYasha asked, confused and worried. His concern wasn't abated by the explanation that followed.

"I'm going to need a sample from you, Higurashi-san," he said, turning to Kagome.

"Is that safe?" InuYasha asked. "She's been sick lately, herself." Dr. Tanaka turned to InuYasha frowning.

"I will take a sample from you as well, then," he said.

"InuYasha isn't Tama's biological father, Sensei," Kagome told him quietly, trying not to wake Tama. They felt she was too young to know the details of her conception.

"There is still a chance that he may have a usable blood-type," Dr. Tanaka assured her. "I will warn you that the procedure is not without its risks…"

Kagome and InuYasha sat next to each other under the sacred tree outside the shrine, with Kagome's head resting on his shoulder and his fingers twined about hers. They had been enjoying the sunset and trying to forget the painful experience of only a few hours before. InuYasha was worried what his hanyou blood would look like to the doctors and wondered if they would be able to tell it wasn't normal human blood, but he had given it willingly. In a way, he wanted very much to be a match so that Tama would have his blood in her veins—after a fashion—as well. To him, that would cement his adoption of her.

"Do you think we're making the right choice?" Kagome asked. "What if she doesn't survive?"

"She will survive," InuYasha answered simply. He refused to consider any other possibility and he had no intention of allowing Kagome to do so, either. He stopped her protest short and stubbornly repeated himself. He relaxed when he felt the tension leave her back. He wasn't certain that he was right, but he'd be damned if he let it show. He looked over at the little girl, sitting in the grass and playing with a baby rattle drum with a bright smile on her face. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "What if I'm a match," he proposed, "and more importantly, what if I donate my marrow and it turns her into a hanyou?"

"So?" Kagome asked. It was such a casual response that InuYasha looked down at her. He touched her face to turn it to meet his eyes.

"So what if she becomes a hanyou?"

"Then she'll be a hanyou," Kagome answered firmly. "And she'll still be our daughter." A rush of heat filled InuYasha with some emotion that felt unfamiliar, tinged with love, which had become a permanent resident in his heart. It was an emotion he liked, as confusing as it was and he impulsively embraced Kagome. Her small body seemed so fragile in his arms and he was desperate to protect the wonderful person inside of it. He poured all his love into the hug and he felt her arms wrap around his and return her own.

The next morning, they were called back to the clinic. This time, it was packed and they waited a good three hours before they got to see the doctor. They were incredibly antsy by the time he called them back into a different room and sat them down. There was a strange look on his face as he examined the little clipboard in his hand.

"Taji-san," he said to InuYasha. Kagome gave a small smile, like she always did, hearing his adopted last name. "You are a perfect match for Tama."

"I am?" InuYasha responded, surprised. He had wanted that, but he certainly hadn't expected it.

"Yes. Because you are related to her," he finished. "It is a distant relation, to be sure, but your DNA is similar. Honestly, I would say she was a many-times-great niece or a distant cousin."

"Many-times-great niece," InuYasha repeated, an idea forming in his head as he recalled looking into Yukio's eyes for the first time."

"Well, obviously, that's not possible. Most likely, you had a common ancestor many generations ago." InuYasha stopped listening as the doctor continued talking about DNA coding and looked at Kagome. He could tell by the look she shot back at him that she was thinking the same thing. "…So I would like to do the transplant. I don't want to wait with her red blood cell count so low, and even if I filter your blood to remove the white cells, it could drastically increase the chances of her suffering a rejection."

"All right, Sensei, whatever you feel is best," Kagome answered. Dr. Tanaka nodded and they began scheduling the appointment that Kagome hoped would rid her baby girl of the horrible fatigue spells and deathly common colds.

When they got home, InuYasha turned to the well house instead of the main house and Kagome called after him. "I have something I have to do," he said as he hurried over to the small building. He jumped in, filled with a righteous rage. It took him most of the day, which he did regret, but he tracked down his brother. Sesshomaru was standing by a stream, watching Rin catching fish by hand. He turned to watch his brother advancing on him, completely unaware of the hanyou's intentions. Until they landed on his face.

InuYasha pulled one of Sesshomaru's own tactics against him, throwing a punch without warning into his jaw, sending him flying backwards. Sesshomaru sat up, surprised and angry and touched his face.

"Take that, you smug, arrogant, hypocritical asshole!" InuYasha spat at him. Sesshomaru rose to his feet, preparing himself for battle.

"Have you lost what little mind you had?" he demanded.

"No, but you're going to lose yours. And your piece of shit many-great-grandson is going to hurt my woman. And not just any grandson—a human one, you piece of shit." Sesshomaru stared silently at InuYasha, now completely confused and assured of his brother's loss of sanity. But before he could question him further, InuYasha spun around and jumped off back into the trees the way he came.

"What was that half-breed going on about, my lord?" Jaken asked as he walked up to Sesshomaru. The taiyoukai looked down at him only briefly, then turned and walked in the opposite direction from the departure of the deranged hanyou.

"Rin, we are leaving."

"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama!" she called, as always and leapt from the stream. He made a note to himself to get her a new kimono, as the one she had worn for the past three years with him was now too short and he could see far too much leg on her as they were taking on the curving shape of a woman's. It was… distracting.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: My apologies to my readers for the long time between updates. Yes, I've still been working on this, but between a bad case of writer's block and being a new mother, it took me quite a while (and since I was not even pregnant yet when I wrote this, my apologies for how long it has been going on with so little written). We will get to more action shortly (I hope) but a progression was called for, so here it is. Yes, you can expect the next chapter to take a while! My daughter is seven months old, but that's still a LOT of work and a lot more to come when she hits full toddler ;) _

_And for the Japanese language lesson: bonyuu means "mother's milk." Also, I get asked "why use Japanese words when English will work?" The answer is twofold. One, it's a sneaky little way to teach little Japanese things—the same reason I use real Japanese traditions instead of what I'm most familiar with. I research what is appropriate for Japan for any given circumstance (that is, I believe, what makes my stories a little different than other "Kagome's Baby" stories and other common themed fictions). Two: it's in homage to the original anime/manga. In Japan, it's perfectly normal to throw in random English words into the anime! So if you've never watched anime in its original Japanese, you might not know that and that it's actually a part of the anime culture to be bilingual. As usual, thank you for reading!_


	28. Impotent

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… Oh, and this chapter barely even belongs to me! Patches at translated dialogue from the manga._

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 28**

Kagome opened her eyes. InuYasha was staring down at her, clearly worried. She tried to smile up at him, but she was just too weak. He lifted her to his chest and stood up. She tried to protest, to say that she could walk, but the very fact that she couldn't only proved her wrong. So she relaxed and enjoyed the sensation of being carried. It felt so good after… whatever had happened to her.

"What happened?" Kagome whispered.

"As soon as Magatsuhi looked at you, you lost consciousness," Miroku answered, frowning. "Don't you remember?"

'_That's right_,' Kagome thought. '_Back then, my strength was suddenly drained._' Kagome looked around Kaede's hut and saw Kohaku, lying prone on the other side. "Sango-chan… Kohaku-kun…"

"Yeah," Sango said, looking over at Kagome. "He hasn't opened his eyes once."

"Not as long as he's tainted by Magatsuhi," Kagome said, pushing away from InuYasha as her strength returned. He set her on her feet and she knelt by Kohaku. "I'll purify it right away," she told Sango, smiling at the grateful look in the taijiya's eyes.

"Why was Magatsuhi able to taint Kohaku's shard?" Miroku asked. Kagome only half-listened as Miroku and InuYasha discussed the point of light Kagome had managed to leave in the Shikon no Tama that Naraku bore inside him. A memory of Koga's pained face flashed through her mind, and the defeat settled in him with the loss of his shards. The only remaining shard was in front of her, darkened and tainted once again. Kagome had worked so hard to preserve the initial purification that Kikyo had left in it. It had worked so well that when Naraku came into contact with the shard, it had started to purify the entire jewel.

"I was only thinking of Naraku," Kagome said, trying to focus on purifying, but distracted when Kaede had chimed in. "So I don't think the purity affects anyone but him."

"Keh," InuYasha scoffed, "Looks like we've got a problematic guy on our hands. He escaped before we could finish him off, but next time, he'll be prey for my sword." Kagome felt a chill when she heard that Magatsuhi had escaped. Chill… Kagome frowned.

"How's it going, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked. Kagome pressed closed to the shard, placing her hands nearly on Kohaku's flesh. Nothing.

"I… can't purify it," she whispered. Sango and InuYasha both said her name and she heard the tone in their voices. "Why? I've been able to up until now!" Kagome couldn't look at her friends. She knew they were counting on her and now she had disappointed them. Above all, she couldn't look at Sango.

"What's going to happen to Kohaku?" a young voice asked. Kagome turned to see Rin, sitting over Kohaku, concern etched into her features. Kagome noticed that she was getting older, almost Kohaku's age, whereas Kohaku had not aged a day since Naraku placed the shard in his back. Suddenly, Rin stood and ran from the hut and Kagome watched her go—anything not to have to face the others. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Sango was smiling sadly down at her.

"It's okay, Kagome, I know you tried," Sango said. Kagome smiled up at her.

"Sango…"

"No! Take me with you!" a shout came from outside. Kagome looked up as InuYasha and Miroku exited the hut and realized that she'd already heard someone yell that once. Her strength had returned in full now, but she didn't follow them. She listened as InuYasha and Miroku spoke with Sesshomaru and Totosai outside and wondered what the sword maker was doing there.

"Is that Totosai?" Kagome asked. Sango nodded.

"He came right after Sesshomaru formed his own sword after Magatsuhi almost destroyed him," Sango explained.

"I missed a lot," Kagome complained, looking down at Kohaku again.

"Kagome…" Sango started, but was interrupted by a wail from outside.

"Seshomaru-saamaaa!" Jaken's voice carried in as though he were standing inside next to them.

"He even left Jaken?" Kagome mused out loud. She didn't have too long to wonder about these things, as everyone filed back into the hut shortly after. Jaken was still whimpering and sniffling, with Rin patting his little shoulder. Miroku and InuYasha explained what had happened in the fight after Kagome had fainted. Jaken had to throw in a few reverential comments throughout about Sesshomaru's performance throughout. After they had told the entire story, Kagome sat in the quiet for a space of moments, then stood and left them all behind.

After a few minutes, InuYasha walked up behind her, and then hopped up onto the fence she was leaning against. Kagome sighed quietly. "I'm sorry, InuYasha," she said softly.

"You don't have anything to apologize for, Kagome," he responded.

"I…" Kagome took a deep breath. "It hurts," she breathed, knowing that he could still hear her, "that I can't do anything."

"Don't worry about it. Besides…" InuYasha looked down at Kagome, but she didn't meet his gaze and he looked away. "The fact that he went to the trouble to seal your power, means that, to Naraku and Magatsuhi, you're a force to be feared."

'I'm that powerful?' Kagome wondered to herself. She heard InuYasha hop off the fence, then felt as he moved up to stand behind her. Still, she refused to look at him, even as he reached out and pulled her back against his chest. "You've been without your powers before," he reminded her. Kagome closed her eyes, then gasped when his hand moved up from her stomach to brush against her breast as he lifted it to clasp her chin and turn her to face him. She wondered if the contact had been accidental or not, but only for a moment, then his mouth had found hers.

Her body reacted immediately, tightening and shivering. She reached her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her, deepening the kiss. Her breath picked up and his hand trailed down her neck, leaving gooseflesh in its wake. Kagome trembled as his hand moved along her collarbone and lower. She tensed, waiting for his hand to drop that last few inches, but instead, he skipped over, letting the back of his hand barely brush her shirt front, removing all doubt that the touch earlier had been deliberate.

Kagome broke the kiss and stepped away, trying to regain her composure and catch her breath. It got harder to step away, every time that she did it. "It keeps getting harder," InuYasha said and she blushed furiously and was about to spin around and tell him to keep _that_ kind of information to himself, when he continued, "to let you go." Her breath caught for a moment. They had been thinking the same thing. Kagome looked up at the sky and felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes. It wasn't fair! It had never been this hard before Yukio had… "Kagome…"

"I can't, InuYasha," Kagome gasped. "It's just as hard for me, but I _can't_. Yukio took my powers with what he did. I was probably only able to get them back because I didn't choose him."

"Right now," InuYasha pointed out, looking away from her, "your powers are gone."

"Sealed, InuYasha, not gone. If we don't stop, they might go and never return and then what would we do? I'm the only one with power over the jewel. Like that priestess said last month, Kikyo sealed my powers, except where the jewel is concerned. Now Magatsuhi has sealed even that. I can't jeopardize getting them back."

"Kagome…" InuYasha began, but Kagome cut him off.

"I want you, InuYasha, almost more than I can stand. Please don't make this harder. Just—" Kagome's eyes grew large as he cut her off with a kiss. Then he turned and walked away. She stared at his retreating back and wanted to run to him. Instead, she turned around and fell to her knees, pressing her head into the wooden fence until she didn't feel like one big raging hormone anymore. "Maybe I should just go sit under a freezing waterfall again," she whispered to no one.

**_To be continued…_**

_A/N: Thank you to the wonderful scanlators out there who allow those of us without knowledge of kanji to enjoy our manga at the same rate as Japanese readers. I'm sorry to anyone who was annoyed that this was such a merge with the manga, but don't worry, non-Takahashi plot will return in the next chapter!_


	29. Descent into Darkness

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… Patches at translated dialogue from the manga._

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 29**

Kagome was using every ounce of her willpower to remain sitting. The rest was entirely her mother's hand holding her in place. It was so hard not to go running into the operating room where her fiancé and daughter were currently undergoing a dangerous procedure. She wasn't worried about InuYasha, she knew he would heal, but Tama was just a little girl. A tiny little girl. Her only baby…

"They will be just fine," Mama said, giving Kagome's hand a reassuring squeeze before putting her hand back in her lap.

"How do you do this?" Kagome asked softly. Mrs. Higurashi turned to look at her. "Every time I go through the well, you must feel like this. You must wonder if I'll come back. How do you do it?"

"That's not the same," Mrs. Higurashi answered. "I know that it's dangerous, but I also believe that you wouldn't be able to go there if there wasn't a reason you were supposed to. And I believe that when you've fulfilled your purpose, you'll come safely back to me."

"But when I was gone, you—"

"I'm sorry about that. I know InuYasha was doing his best, but it was right after… And it took so long that I…" Mrs. Higurashi looked down. "I always believed you would come home. I was just afraid of what was happening to you in the meantime. I don't like the thought of you in pain."

"I can understand that," Kagome agreed. "I just don't understand how you were okay with me going back again after that." Her mom smiled.

"I trust you, Kagome. And I trust InuYasha. I have to let you do what you must do. It's part of being a mother. Yes, part of it is keeping you safe, but a bigger part is helping you to grow up," Mrs. Higurashi told her. Kagome's eyes brimmed with tears and she threw her arms around her mother and hugged her, crying. Mrs. Higurashi stroked her hair and patted her back. After a few minutes, Kagome pulled herself back together and wiped her eyes on the back of her arm. Kagome smiled back at her mom, thinking how different she looked now that she, herself was a mother. She thought more about what her mom thought of her than she ever had.

"I hope that I'm as good a mother as you were for me," Kagome told her.

"I'm sure you will be," Mrs. Higurashi reassured her. "When you were first born, I worried all the time about what kind of mother I would be and what kind I wanted to be. I was always worried that I would do the wrong thing."

"When did you stop worrying?" Kagome asked.

"I'll let you know when it happens," her mother answered with a wink.

"Higurashi-san?" the doctor called from the doorway. Kagome stood up immediately.

"Yes, sensei?" Kagome responded, walking over to him.

"Tama and Taji-san are out of surgery," he told her. "Everything went fine and they're recovering now. You may see them if you like."

"Are they in the same room?" Kagome asked.

"No, Tama is in the pediatric ward."

"InuYasha will probably wake up first," Kagome said softly. "Can you take me there? Can my mom go to Tama?"

"Of course," the doctor agreed and guided Kagome to InuYasha's room. A nurse was sent to take her mother to Tama's. Kagome bowed slightly to the doctor as he left, then went to sit next to InuYasha, whose hair and ears were stuffed together into a plastic cap that she had put on him earlier to hide his true nature. No one had seemed to notice that he didn't have ears under the rim of the cap, but she supposed that maybe some people liked it down that low.

She reached out and had to stop herself from removing the cap and tweaking his ears, but satisfied herself with tweaking the plastic instead. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching her, then she lifted the sheet off his torso and looked down, blushing and dropping it immediately. She hadn't realized he was totally nude underneath! Well, except for what she had been looking for—the bandages on his hip, where they had removed a section of bone for the marrow that was now benefiting her daughter.

"Get a good look?" InuYasha whispered, making Kagome jump. She blushed furiously, having just stopped right before he spoke and let her bangs fall into her face, covering her eyes. She heard a cough and looked over to realize InuYasha was laughing at her! She started to get angry and then smiled instead.

"Well, it's only fair, considering how many times you've peeped at me," she teased him. He coughed a little more and she leaned over to kiss his forehead. "You're not supposed to be awake yet," Kagome told him. "But then, the stuff they gave you was intended for a human, after all." InuYasha made a soft sound of agreement.

"How is Tama?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

"They said she's doing fine. I wanted to come here first, though, since I knew you would wake up first and I could be in the room with you when it happened," Kagome answered. InuYasha smiled, his eyelids drooping. Kagome could see that he was tired. "It's going to be hard not being able to touch her for weeks. Even when she was in the NICU when she was born, I could still touch her."

"Don't want… make her… sick," InuYasha trailed off and Kagome smiled when she heard his louder breathing. He had fallen back to sleep. She slid the plastic cap off now and pulled out the red bandanna she had brought with her, tying it over his ears. They had told the doctor it was for luck and that's why InuYasha wore it at every meeting before the surgery and would wear it after. She stroked his hair down against the pillow and smiled softly at him, then stood up to leave.

It didn't take her long to find a nurse to take her to her daughter, though it took longer to actually get to Tama's room. Mrs. Higurashi was standing at the glass window, looking in at Tama lying asleep in the bed. Kagome stood next to her and wondered at the tiny little girl lying in a room all by herself, where she would be until her immune system kicked back in. Until then, Kagome couldn't go in for fear of killing her with a stray germ. There was an IV running into her arm that the nurse pointed out to Kagome.

"That's the transfusion line," she told Kagome as a doctor adjusted it. "It's giving her the cells from Taji-san. It will take about two hours."

"When will I be able to visit her?" Kagome asked.

"When her absolute neutrophil count is greater than five hundred for three days," the nurse answered. "Usually a week or two." Kagome nodded.

"Will she get the breast milk I pumped?" Kagome asked. The nurse nodded.

"After it's been treated. It will be good for her recovery," the nurse agreed. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. It was one of Tama's favorite things and the only thing of hers that she could give to her while she was recovering. She felt so bad that Tama wouldn't even be with her mother during this separation. She would be with the nurses and doctor she had only just started to get to know over the past couple weeks. Kagome wiped away a tear discreetly as she remembered how scared Tama had been when Kagome had to leave the room so she could receive anesthesia.

"Thank you," Kagome told the nurse. She stood silently next to her mother and watched the doctor finishing adjusting Tama's central line and leave.

InuYasha healed perfectly and there was no mark where they'd drilled into him within a week. Tama, on the other hand barely looked alive when Kagome visited her and eventually, she just went down the well. She couldn't handle the wait, she needed something to distract herself. Whenever Tama saw her, she became hysterical, so her doctor had suggested it would be best if she stopped coming for a while anyway.

It was to be the biggest mistake she had made in a long time.

Kirara wasn't there, so she ran into the middle of the fray with no one prepared for her to be there. They were fighting a possessed Kohaku and as Kagome ran onto the field, he flung himself at an outcropping of sharp rocks, trying to destroy his body and Magatsuhi at the same time.

InuYasha grabbed Kohaku, saving him at the last minute and Kagome was surprised to see a bright spot of light still shining from his tainted shard. She realized that he had succeeded in ejecting Magatsuhi from his body entirely. But she sensed Naraku's tainted shikon no tama in the area and knew that meant he had to be here. But where, she couldn't tell.

"InuYasha, be careful!" Kagome yelled and every head swung towards her. "Naraku is here!" And then a tentacle formed from the air, smashing into InuYasha and stealing Kohaku from his grasp.

"You lose!" Magatsuhi laughed. But it was a short-lived victory for him as a voice turned everyone's attention again.

"Naraku's body... hn. Bakusaiga!" An electric wave tore from the sword in Sesshomaru's hand and Kagome gasped when her skin crawled from it and the sharp scent of ozone burned her nose.

Kohaku fell.

Sango screamed and pushed Kirara, who barely swung down to get below him in time before he would have been crushed. Kagome barely heard the commentary that followed, but she caught the gist of it. '_Tenseiga is all that can kill Magatsuhi,_' she thought to herself, feeling hope surge into her heart. '_If Magatsuhi is destroyed, my powers will return._'

But her hope was crushed when after taunting Sesshomaru, who responded simply with the information that the first blow was to declare that he could kill him, he spoke words whose meaning didn't instantly sink in.

"It's not over? What does that mean?" Kagome asked. Sango understood, when InuYasha thought it was just a bluff.

"Houshi-sama sucked up part of Magatsuhi," she reasoned. "And Rin was also hit with Magatsuhi's toxic aura and has been unconscious ever since!" She had barely finished her words when Sesshomaru spun and disappeared in the direction of the village. "We should also return to the village, I'm worried about houshi-sama and the others."

"Right!" InuYasha agreed. "Let's go Kagome!"

"Right..." Kagome started to take a step when InuYasha's face filled with horror.

"Naraku!" he shouted. Kagome felt hard limbs wrap around her torso, crushing her and she screamed. Naraku laughed.

"Kagome, I don't even need to hide behind a barrier, since you couldn't even tell where I was. It looks like your spiritual powers haven't returned yet."

"Naraku, you bastard!" InuYasha snarled, brandishing Tetsusaiga. Kagome struggled to escape, suddenly panicking against the feel of being trapped against the evil hanyou's chest. His limbs tightened and she ceased being able to move at all as he used her as a human shield.

"What's wrong, InuYasha?" he taunted. "Don't hold back. Kill me." InuYasha growled, but it was clear he was helpless to do anything. "Don't worry. I won't kill her. Not until I take Kohaku's shard." Tentacles flew into Kagome's vision on a path towards Kohaku and Sango, still flying on Kirara.

"Have you forgotten about Hiraikotsu's powers, Naraku?" Sango challenged, hacking away at him. He laughed and Kagome shuddered.

"Sango—the part of my body that you're currently destroying is a part I don't mind throwing away," he told her. "The part that Sesshomaru cut away earlier was just as useless. My body is limitless." Kagome's fear faded for a moment and she was able to think rationally, despite being trapped as she was.

'_If I can just find where the shikon no tama is in his body, he should be defeatable,_' she thought. '_Where is it? His head? His neck? Or maybe his heart_?' She sent out all of her power into him and finally...

"InuYasha! Sango-chan! The shikon no tama is in Naraku's right shoulder!" It was the last thing she was able to communicate as his limbs tightened around her throat until the pressure was unbearable and she lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she had the strangest feeling of sinking into something. Her eyes flew open as she realized what was happening.

"I'm being sucked in!" she called out, terrified. Naraku gloated and Kohaku asked for his word that a trade could be arranged.

"Stay away, Kohaku-kun! There's no way Naraku would spare me! Plus, if the shikon shard that binds your life is removed, you'll die!" Then, to her horror, Kohaku agreed to Naraku's terms, to trade himself for her. She knew it was a trap, but there was nothing more she could do or say. She was afraid for herself, but even more so for Kohaku as he surrendered and Naraku's appendages grabbed hold of him.

But the fear only lasted as long as it took Naraku to drop his barrier, then Kohaku pounced, pulling out a sacred arrow, still full of the purity of both Kagome and Kikyo and plunged it into Naraku's shoulder, where it had already been torn open, though Kagome had missed when or by whom.

Kagome leaned as far away from Naraku as she could manage as Naraku dug the arrow in deep. She looked and realized she could see the light flowing through the arrow from Kohaku's shard. "I can see it!" Kagome declared as the jewel started to be revealed. Then Naraku shook Kohaku off and started to flee—with her still wrapped in his grasp. "InuYasha!" she screamed.

"Kagome!" he screamed back, leaping after them, Tetsusaiga already transforming. "Kongousouha!" he yelled as he released thousands of diamond spears at Naraku's head, shredding it and freeing Kagome. "Kagome!" he yelled as she fell.

Kagome wasn't scared, though. All she felt was relief that Naraku was no longer confining her. That, and the air rushing past her as gravity pulled her down. A moment later, just as she knew would happen, she was nestled in InuYasha's arms.

"Kagome, you're not hurt are you?" he asked, looking into her eyes with concern.

"No," she answered, just relieved to be back in his arms. She looked up and frowned. "He's run and hid in that cloud."

"Damnit," InuYasha muttered, glaring up at the black sky above. He carefully set Kagome down and they turned as Sango landed with Kohaku.

"Did Naraku escape?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, but he must have been pretty shaken up by Kohaku's attack," InuYasha confirmed.

"Thank you, Kohaku," Kagome said. He smiled. "We were all saved, thanks to you."

"Thank goodness," he said.

"Kohaku, everything's all right now."

"Yes, ane-ue," he replied, looking peaceful for the first time that Kagome had ever seen him. Then he looked surprised and Kagome saw the small spray of blood from his shoulder. She felt cold as his face went blank and he fell. She watched in horror as his shard flew out of him, towards Naraku above them.

"Kohaku!" Sango cried out.

"Kohaku-kun..." Kagome whispered. '_He's dead?_' It didn't want to sink in. It was so sudden—no warning at all. Just like Tama's falling spells. Kagome felt shocky.

"Kohaku? Why? WHY?!" Sango cried and InuYasha's face twisted with pain and anger.

"Kagome—Naraku... where is Naraku?!" InuYasha demanded.

Kagome looked up. '_I can see it,_' she thought, '_Naraku's completely black shikon no tama._' Kagome clutched the bow she had carried this whole time, taken from Kaede's hut on the way. '_My holy arrow... Even if my spiritual power hasn't returned, I can still show InuYasha the way!_' She drew the string back and fired, straight for the jewel.

"There! Meidou zangetsuha!" InuYasha yelled, releasing the power he had taken from Sesshomaru in their last battle. Black funnels formed a sphere of night where Naraku was only a moment before, but the bastard just laughed as he escaped.

"InuYasha, you can't even save even a single small life like Kohaku's. The priestess's light has died out and now even Kohaku's shard is tainted with my darkness." Kagome was shocked to find that it was true. The light was gone from the shard. She stared as Naraku retreated, unwilling to turn to the soft crying behind her.

Suddenly, InuYasha punched the ground with all his strength and slumped over on himself, defeated.

"InuYasha..." Kagome whispered, unable to help him. She couldn't help anyone. She had failed even more than he had. All that she was had been taken from her and now she was just a useless bystander. 'I_'m sorry, Kohaku-kun. I'm sorry,_' she thought, tormented, tears slipping from her eyes.

She glanced back at Sango clinging to her brother's body and was shocked at what she saw. '_Light! Kohaku-kun is being wrapped in light. What is this?_' Then Sango opened her eyes and sat back, disbelief on her face as her brother opened his eyes as well.

"Kohaku-kun!" Kagome exclaimed in surprise. InuYasha's head shot up and whipped around and she saw the taint of pain still in them.

"Ko... haku?" Sango whispered.

"Ane... ue," he replied, weakly. Kagome couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"The purification light let go of the shard and remained in Kohaku's body," she said softly. "It saved Kohaku instead of destroying Naraku..."

"Why?" Sango asked softly, looking to Kagome. "Not that I'm complaining..."

"It's what I would have done," Kagome said. "Saving a life is more important than destroying one."

"Thank you," Sango whispered to Kohaku's shoulder. Kagome nodded her agreement and decided that maybe it wasn't such a huge mistake to come back after all. Now all that was left was waiting for Naraku to use the jewel and to destroy him entirely.

Kagome closed her eyes as she fell, still hearing Sesshomaru call her an idiot. But there was nothing she could do now. She had dropped Tetsusaiga and her bow and she was falling to her death. Well, maybe she was an idiot, but she refused to believe that InuYasha was a lost cause and she had only wanted to bring Tetsusaiga to him so that he would awaken from Magatsuhi's hold on his mind.

Then she grunted as she was caught by strong arms and she could feel that it was a youkai who held her. She opened her eyes, confused and surprised that Sesshomaru had caught her, only to see InuYasha's youkai eyes watching her as they descended.

"InuYasha... you saved me?" she asked softly. "Do you recognize me?"

"I heard your voice, Kagome," he answered. He seemed dazed and confused and looked tired.

"InuYasha," Kagome asked, realizing that he hadn't caught his sword, "Where's Tetsusaiga?"

"Dunno... it fell..." he muttered, still appearing lost. Then Sesshomaru spoke and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What will you do, Magatsuhi? It looks like that hanyou is harder to control than you though."

"Sesshomaru," Kagome said softly, realizing that he was very close. In fact, she guessed that he had been about to catch her himself when InuYasha interfered. But his words brought back the memory that it was not just InuYasha behind those red eyes.

Magatsuhi's voice came from all around her. "Sesshomaru, do you wish for me to leave InuYasha?" Kagome braced herself. '_He's probably going to try to possess me next._' She met Sesshomaru's eyes and watched them narrow, but then the air around her became charged and thick and she turned to InuYasha, who was leaning in towards her.

"Release her!" Sesshomaru commanded as Kagome thought '_can't move!_' Fear welled up inside of her as it appeared InuYasha was trapping her in place. Flashed of helplessness years before overwhelmed her. But before she could even truly get upset, InuYasha had kicked off the ground—away from her.

"InuYasha..." Kagome breathed, feeling like she was choking against the mind pressing hard into hers. Then everything was static and she couldn't hear or see. She heard Magatsuhi taunting InuYasha, telling Sesshomaru he'd have to destroy her... all from inside her own mind.

And then the world came back.

'_Magatsuhi... left my body..._' she realized. '_He's being drawn towards InuYasha?_' She was confused by what was happening as Sesshomaru taunted his enormous visage and wondered why he wasn't reentering InuYasha.

"Regretting who you possessed, huh?" Sesshomaru spoke, then he was flying through the air, Tenseiga drawn against Magatsuhi, whose noncorporeal head was floating in front of InuYasha. Kagome watched in mingled hope and fear as Sesshomaru slashed through him.

"Impossible... how could I lose to a mere hanyou's youki..." Magatsuhi's voice faded as Sesshomaru sheathed Tenseiga as the fluid end of the attack. The feeling was instantaneous and caught Kagome off guard. Her eyes widened and she gasped. It felt like a haze had just lifted. A curtain she hadn't known was in front of her was simply drawn back.

"Kagome..." InuYasha said and she turned to him. His expression was no longer dull and listless, but concerned and surprised. Unable to contain herself, she ran to him and embraced him. Her lips found his without a second thought and she ignored the sharp press of his longer, youkai fangs. He kissed her back after only a second's hesitation and she felt her power flood into him. He gasped and she opened her eyes to meet his.

They were golden again, just as they had been that time when she'd saved him from the shard he'd embedded in Tetsusaiga, though he was still a youkai. She was startled by the resemblance he suddenly had toward his brother, though their stripes were colored differently. She looked over at Sesshomaru, who was steadfastly looking away. Blushing, she stepped back and dropped her hands to her side.

"If you two are done, we still have to defeat Naraku," Sesshomaru said, still refusing to look at them.

"Sorry," Kagome said, embarrassed by her public display of affection. Sesshomaru made a dismissive sound.

"Where is the jewel?" InuYasha asked and Kagome felt herself smile at the old question. It had been so long since InuYasha had used her as a jewel detector, even though she'd kept acting as one, even without her powers. "I know it's close, I can still feel it."

Kagome looked up at InuYasha's eyes, surprised to see that they were still golden. Just her presence was purifying the jewel's effects on him. Kagome heard a familiar scream off in the distance and she turned to find the source, but Miroku was nowhere to be seen.

"More importantly, where is Rin?" Sesshomaru asked quietly. Kagome looked at him and noticed his nose twitched ever so slightly.

"Can you smell her?" Kagome asked. She could tell by his silence and inaction that he couldn't.

"All I can smell right now is Naraku—everywhere," InuYasha growled. "Is that Miroku?" he asked, looking in the direction Kagome had a moment ago.

"I think so," Kagome said. Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to her. "We have to hurry!" she shouted and started running towards where she felt the jewel the strongest. If Miroku were about to be pulled into his wind tunnel, she had no idea what that would mean for all of them inside Naraku with him. And she had no doubt that Sango was right at his side—she would be, were it InuYasha instead.

Before she'd made it ten meters, InuYasha had grabbed her and slung her onto his back so fast she squeaked in surprise. He ran in the exact path she'd set and when she looked over, Sesshomaru was easily keeping pace. '_No doubt, just glad to have a goal,_' she thought. Then he froze.

InuYasha skidded to a halt and turned in unison with his brother. They were going away from the jewel, but Kagome was sure of where they were going _to_.

"Sesshomaru-sama! Sesshomaru-sama! Help!" Rin's voice was faint, but even Kagome could hear her calling. Sesshomaru picked up speed and InuYasha was clearly hard pressed to keep up. Kagome could feel him breathing heavier and when they stopped in front of a disgusting, pulsing wall, he was panting.

"She's here," Sesshomaru declared before he started hacking away at the fleshy wall.

"Come on," Kagome said to InuYasha, tugging on his sleeve. "We have to get to the jewel. He doesn't need our help here."

"Right," InuYasha said, nodding once. He turned to where she pointed and they ran full speed ahead. As they approached, the wall separated in front of them and Naraku stepped out. Or rather, the image of Naraku's previous form. Kagome ignored him and continued searching for the jewel as InuYasha shrugged her off onto the ground to fight with him.

She glanced over from time to time as she tried to find anything she could use as an arrow. She had her bow again, InuYasha had picked it up before catching up with her, but she still had nothing to shoot from it. InuYasha tore through clones of Naraku as they came, seemingly endlessly and Kagome knew that time was running out.

Then she found it. A single arrow, embedded in the flesh wall furthest from the jewel. She suspected it was a trap, but she didn't have the luxury of not falling for it. So she ran to it, ignoring InuYasha's calls and grabbed the tail. Immediately, the wall softened and tentacles burst forth, engulfing her arm. Kagome screamed and planted her feet against it, but they just sank in. He was absorbing her!

"Kongousouha!" InuYasha exclaimed and Kagome tried to turn to see what he was attacking, but a part of the wall reached out and grabbed her throat. Suddenly, she was fighting to breathe and black spots danced before her eyes. Then she was free and gasping for air with her prize clutched firmly in her hand.

"Got it!" she shouted, standing up, even though her legs felt like rubber. She didn't waste a second. She turned, aimed and prayed. "Strike your mark," she whispered. Then she released.

She saw the armored core as the flesh was stripped away from the area surrounding the jewel. The arrow didn't stop there, though, it blasted through it and hit exactly where she had aimed—the center of the jewel.

"NO!" she heard Naraku scream as InuYasha screamed her name. Pain exploded in her brain and blossomed into agony only for a second before everything went black.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: Again, I have to thank scanlators with all my heart—for both content and my continued interest in this series. I hope that this chapter was more satisfying than the last. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm going to try my hardest to get the next chapter out before the next chapter of the IY manga. It's hard to find time to write with a toddler always needing me to play with and nurse her, but I'm doing my best. Thanks also to all the bands that feed my muse so that he can continue to inspire me—top of the list for this story being Seether, Evanescence, KoRn, A Perfect Circle and Three Days Grace. Also, please excuse any errors or inconsistencies in spelling—I lost Word and am now having to write in Open Office. While it's a wonderful clone, the dictionary leaves something to be desired and does not have my personal modifications totally updated to it yet. And, as always, I am beta-free. Ja ne!_


	30. After the Dark

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 30**

Kagome awoke in the soft light of a fire and opened her eyes slowly. She turned her head and heard her name, but for some reason, she couldn't see anything. Terrified that she'd gone blind, her hands went to her face and she laughed with relief when she touched a damp cloth.

Another hand closed on top of hers and she let it remove the cloth for her. InuYasha hugged her tightly. Kagome gasped as it caused her head to throb horribly and she tried to hold perfectly still and breathe evenly while InuYasha let her go, wincing and apologizing.

"Kagome, you're awake!" Shippo called and a moment later, Kagome was surrounded by her friends. She burst into tears when she saw Miroku, so relieved she was that he wasn't dead. She didn't waste a moment and threw herself forward to hug him.

"Kagome-sama, I'm so glad that you're okay," he said softly, hugging her back. "We were worried, you took such a horrendous blow."

"Sango-chan!" Kagome said, reaching out and hugging her taijiya friend next. She saw that Sango had tears in her eyes, too and Kagome's flowed even faster in response.

"What have I told you about scaring me like that?" InuYasha growled as he hugged her again, pushing Shippo away, who had been eagerly clinging to Kagome's shoulder, delighted she was awake. He protested, but Kagome clung to InuYasha and wiped her eyes on his firerat kimono.

"Did I do it?" Kagome asked, afraid of the answer.

"Yes," every voice around her chimed. Clearly, everyone wanted to be the one to give her the news.

"When your arrow pierced the jewel, it exploded again..." InuYasha began.

"But first, it was purified by the holy arrow," Miroku continued.

"The jewel went everywhere—piercing Naraku a thousand times over with purified shards." Sango gave her part.

"Naraku lit up from the inside out!" Shippo added.

"What were you doing there?" Kagome demanded. Shippo blushed and smiled.

"You didn't really expect me not to come to the last fight, did you? And not do my part?"

"I suppose not," Kagome sighed, reaching for her backpack and digging out some pain relievers to stop the killer headache she had.

"The light could be seen from the village," Kaede said, offering her some tea. "Ye have no idea how amazing it was to see Naraku purify as the jewel itself in your hand."

"Huh?" Kagome said and looked down at her left hand, realizing, for the first time, that it was clutched around an object. She opened it and there was the shikon no tama—whole and pink and shining from within. "But you said I broke it..."

"And all of it went into Naraku," InuYasha reminded her. "And tore him to pieces. Which gave Sesshomaru and I the opportunity to destroy his heart."

"When they did," Miroku said, "My wind tunnel sealed itself. I thought for sure that I was going to die right then and..." Miroku looked down and Sango smiled.

"And then it was over. It was sudden—like he'd willingly sealed it, only his hand was open."

"And I knew it was over," Miroku whispered, looking at his open right hand.

"That's when all the youkai that made up Naraku attacked," InuYasha continued with the story. "And if it weren't for Kohaku and Shippo, you wouldn't still be here." InuYasha grabbed Kagome's hand and squeezed it. She saw the pain in his eyes and knew it was from the fear of losing her.

"It was nothing," Shippo said. Kagome smiled at him.

"Thank you, Shippo." She turned and found Kohaku and thanked him as well. He nodded and smiled.

"Shippo protected you with his body while Kohaku fought and defeated the biggest of all the youkai," Sango explained.

"While Sango protected me," Miroku admitted. "I'd dropped my staff and was very grateful at that point that she'd followed me. Though I wasn't happy at how much I put her in danger." Miroku looked meaningfully at Sango and she blushed and smiled. Kagome clapped happily.

"So, does this mean you two are finally getting married?" Kagome asked. Sango nodded as she blushed even deeper.

"You missed a great fight!" Shippo announced, climbing into Kagome's lap. "Even that shrimp Jaken did his part!" Shippo looked thoughtful for a moment. "Although I feel kinda bad for him. When it was all over, Sesshomaru remembered that Jaken let Rin get kidnapped. And he was _angry_."

"I think bad tempers run in the family," Miroku teased.

"Feh," InuYasha dismissed.

"Is it really over?" Kagome asked, surprised that she had missed the end.

"Yeah," InuYasha said. "Naraku is dead. Really and truly dead. And you have the shikon no tama. It's yours now." Kagome's eyes widened and she looked down at it. She remembered when she had needed it to travel in the well, but it had been a long time since then.

"What do I do with it?" Kagome asked. So much potential rested in the little jewel. So much pain. So much good and so much evil.

"Well, you can try not to break it again," InuYasha suggested with a smirk. Kagome stuck her tongue out at him.

"If you want, we can protect it," Sango offered. Kagome shook her head.

"No. This thing has caused enough damage. It's time to end it." Kagome stared into it and could almost hear Midoriko crying out for help.

"Kikyo thought that if I used it to become human, then it would vanish," InuYasha offered.

"No. You said that she thought it would take an unselfish wish. Well, that would be a selfish wish. You wanted to stay with her, so using it to become human wouldn't have been selfless at all. And I don't care if you're human, youkai or hanyou. I like you for you." Kagome looked up at met his eyes. "But if you still want to use it..." Kagome held it out and she heard Miroku's sharp intake of breath. Everyone knew what InuYasha wanted to use it for. "Now is the time, before I get rid of it."

InuYasha stared at the jewel like it still had Naraku in it and Kagome closed her hand.

"You really don't care if I stay a hanyou?" he asked. "Because if it would be easier for me to be human..."

"I want you to be what you want to be," Kagome answered. "I like you as a hanyou."

"Then I'm going to stay a hanyou," he said. "I'd decided already, a long time ago, that I didn't want to be a youkai anymore. I don't want to hurt... my friends." InuYasha looked away from everyone and Kagome smiled.

"Do you know what to wish, Kagome?" Sango asked. Kagome shook her head.

"Not exactly, but I have an idea. But I'm not ready quite yet." Kagome looked up and Sango nodded to her. She smiled, so happy that her friend trusted her, but a sadness was growing in her heart. She didn't know if the well would still work once the jewel was purified. She wasn't ready to give everyone up, not yet.

She wanted to see Miroku and Sango get married. She wanted to see Shippo grow up, though she didn't know if that was even possible. Who knew how fast he aged? He didn't seem any older than he was when she met him. But she at least wanted to see what would happen to him for a while. And she wanted to see Kohaku and Sango happy and starting up a new village of taijiya—if that was their wish. She wanted to know what they wished.

And most of all, she didn't want to take the chance that InuYasha wouldn't be on her side of the well when the wish happened. She didn't want him to fade into the past—the thought terrified her. But she also didn't want to wait too long to purify it. Every minute it was there was a minute longer they were all in danger from it.

It was a hard decision and one she wished that she didn't have to make. Then, a nagging thought from the back of her mind clicked into place.

"Oh, no!" Kagome cried.

"What?" InuYasha asked, startled and alert. Everyone started looking around, panicked.

"I missed school today! There was a big test in..." Kagome looked at everyone and shrunk back. They didn't look happy at being startled over her school crisis. But then Miroku laughed and Sango joined him. After a minute, InuYasha chucked lightly as well. Even Kagome had to join in—considering all that they had been through, even she saw the humor this time.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: OMG, they killed Naraku! Just wanted to get that out of the way before it happens in the manga. I know they're close, but I wanted some of that story to be mine. Yes, it's already an AU story, but I still wanted to parallel the manga. Ja ne!_


	31. Hello and GoodBye

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 31**

Kagome finally held her daughter in her arms again and wept with joy. Tama was crying and clinging to her and Kagome felt even worse for leaving her. She had almost died and taken herself away from her little girl. Kagome clutched Tama closer until she heard her squeak for being hugged too hard, not that she complained.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be with you, Tama-chan," Kagome told her. "I'm so glad to have you back."

"Mama!" Tama whimpered, clutching Kagome. Then she patted Kagome's chest, "Bonyuu!" Kagome heard InuYasha laugh.

"She still remembers her favorite words," he teased as Kagome found a chair and sat down to nurse Tama.

"You're just jealous," Kagome teased back. InuYasha sat on the floor next to her and grinned.

"Yeah? Well, I don't have to be any more, now do I?" he pointed out and Kagome blushed scarlet. She stared fixedly down at her daughter and refused to meet his leer and he laughed again.

"Higurashi-san?" a male voice called her name and Kagome looked up.

"Yes?" Kagome replied and saw it was Tama's doctor. She wanted to stand up to thank him, but Tama was having nothing of her trying to move. She'd been separated for over a week from her mother and now she was going to sit there and make up for lost time.

"I see Tama's happy to have you back!" he commented when he saw the death grip the toddler had on Kagome's shirt. "I just wanted to talk with you about her follow up care."

"Of course," Kagome said. The doctor explained that Tama still needed to take it easy and that her immune system was still going to be damaged. There were follow up medications to take but he was impressed with how well she'd healed.

"Honestly, I'm amazed at how fast she healed. Really, she could have gone home a few days ago, but we wanted to make certain her neutrophil count was stable. Her T cells are higher than we were expecting, too, so her immune system looks like it will make a full recovery quicker than expected."

"You sound like that's a bad thing?" Kagome said, looking down at her daughter and stroking her hair.

"It could be. We'll have to watch more closely for rejection, but so far, there has been absolutely no sign of it. With a six point match like Taji-san was, the chances of rejection are fairly low, but her immune system came back up so fast, we were afraid she was going to crash. Instead, it appears just the opposite—like her body has accepted the tissue as her own."

"So... should I be worried?" Kagome asked.

"We don't believe so. Just be vigilant. At her next checkup, though, she should be two, so make sure you tell them about her compromised immune system. They should run a check to make sure she is up to full immunity before starting her vaccinations. She may need to wait until she's three to begin."

"Yes, Sensei," Kagome said as the doctor bowed away. She bowed the best she could and he smiled as he started to leave.

"Oh, and keep doing that. It will help." Then he turned and left as she repeated herself.

"Well, are you ready to go home?" InuYasha asked.

"Tama-chan?" Kagome asked and Tama unlatched and grinned up at her. "Are you ready to go home?" Tama nodded and slid out of Kagome's lap to stand on her own. Kagome took the onbuhimo from InuYasha and Tama laughed and danced, stomping her feet in excitement.

"Guess she is," InuYasha said, smiling broadly. Kagome looked back down at Tama and froze.

"Her eyes," Kagome whispered.

"I noticed," InuYasha replied. They both looked down at Tama's excited eyes, which were no longer just golden-flecked, but a dark gold. Not quite InuYasha's color, but much closer than before. There would be no trouble believing she was his.

Kagome shook her head and smiled at Tama, then draped the body of the carrier around the toddler and swung her up and over her shoulder with practiced ease. She leaned forward and slipped the straps through the rings and tied them back under themselves in front in less than a minute. Then she stood up and bounced on her feet a little, eliciting a laugh from Tama. She spread the straps better across her shoulders so that they weren't digging in and took InuYasha's hand. Finally, her little family was back together again.

InuYasha and Kagome barely had any time to themselves the next week. Tama was traumatized from being separated from everything and everyone she knew and was intensely clingy. At night, if Kagome tried to get up to use the bathroom, Tama woke up and followed her. During naps, Kagome had to sit right next to her the whole time or she wouldn't stay asleep.

Kagome was just glad to have her healthy little girl back. She was amazed at the difference. Tama no longer had weakness spells, no longer fell down and was even more active than Kagome had known she could be. She started climbing everything and despite just having learned how to walk, she was walking and even running, as though she hadn't waited nineteen months to do so.

She was twenty months now and Kagome could barely keep up. InuYasha had no problem and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Kagome was so glad to have him, because Tama would exhaust her and he could just take over and play four times as long.

After a week, though, Kagome knew it was time to go back, that Sango and Miroku would be going through their wedding ceremony any day. Even if she couldn't be there, she wanted to be there when it was over, to congratulate them. And as an added bonus, Kagome and InuYasha would have time to themselves afterwards.

She had told Tama about how they had defeated Naraku ("Mama itai?" Tama had asked and Kagome showed her that she was all better, to which Tama replied "yokatta!") and that her friends (whom she had taken pictures of to show Tama after realizing what a good idea it was when she showed Sango, Miroku and Shippo) were going to get married. So now it was just matter of convincing Tama that it was okay for her to go.

"Noooooooooo!" Tama cried, throwing herself on the ground. She laid there, limp and crying her eyes out. "Mama not go! Mama, no! No go! Noooo!" Tama shrieked and cried and Kagome was totally at a loss until her mother stepped in. Tama had never had the strength or inclination to throw a tantrum before, even though her mother had warned her that she was at the age for it, being in her second year and all.

"You want to go with Mama?" Mrs. Higurashi said to Tama who banged her head on the floor nodding. "You want to go with her now! You don't want Mama to go!" Tama stopped crying and sniffed, looking at her grandmother. She nodded. "But Mama has to go. Just for now. Tama gets to have Obaasan all to herself! And Oji. Oji will be home soon and will play with Tama! But Mama needs to go right now. Yes?" During this, Tama had looked over at Kagome and InuYasha tearfully and sniffed a few more times, then sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Mama back soon?" Tama asked.

"Of course!" Kagome said, kneeling to hug her daughter. She looked up at her mother with tremendous gratitude. Her mother winked at her.

"Be safe," Tama said seriously and Kagome nodded as she stood up.

"Of course!" Kagome agreed and waved. Tama waved back and InuYasha ruffled her hair as they walked out towards the well.

"She'll be fine," InuYasha said, unexpectedly. Kagome looked over at him, surprised.

"Of course she will," Kagome said, not having any doubt. Then she realized that InuYasha was worried and she took his hand and squeezed it. "Mama knows what to do if anything goes wrong."

"Keh. I know that," InuYasha grumbled. Kagome smiled and leaned her shoulder against his arm. It was times like these that she remembered just why she loved him so much.

"Congratulations!" Kagome yelled as Sango and Miroku came out of the shrine. They grinned and waved at her and InuYasha and they waved back, though InuYasha's wave was much shorter than Kagome's. They had come just in time, since Sango and Miroku had already gone into the shrine when they arrived in the feudal era.

Kagome ran up to Sango and gave her the gifts that she had brought from herself, her mother and grandfather. InuYasha was claiming the gifts from her with her, which amused Kagome. He had no idea what to give someone for a wedding.

Kagome wasn't sure what was given in the sengoku jidai, so she brought a few things from her own time, since she knew her money wasn't going to work in theirs. So she brought a few symbolic things, like a silk fan and her grandfather had given her konbu tangles to give to them, to encourage fertility. Kagome had refused to touch them and they were wrapped three times so she wouldn't be so 'blessed'. When she had seen them, she had refused to touch anything with seaweed in it after.

In total, she (and InuYasha) had three gifts, her grandfather had sent three and her mother had sent three. She was happy with the number—nine gifts was lucky, after all. She knew that Miroku and Sango didn't have family to give them gifts, so she was making up for it. She was happy to see that at the very least, Sango had an obi and Miroku had on hakama.

It was strange seeing him out of his monk's clothing, but he had disrobed as a monk in order to marry Sango. He said he had no regrets, as that path was no longer necessary for him, but Kagome still wondered what he would do now. Sango told Kagome that they planned to move to her old village and rebuild. A few of the boys from Kaede's village wanted to go with her and she and Kohaku were going to train them to be taijiya and in a few years, she hoped to be able to take over where her father had left off.

They bade each other farewell and Shippo left with them. Kagome felt that it was finally time. She had some sense of closure, knowing what the future should hold for her friends and while she had prayed by the well each night that it wouldn't close to InuYasha and herself, she knew now that if it did, she would be able to let go.

"Let's go home," Kagome said.

"Right now? But we just got here. I thought you wanted some time to ourselves?" InuYasha replied, confused.

"I'm ready," Kagome explained. InuYasha's eyes widened and he looked to the well.

"Do you think it will still work?"

"I hope so," Kagome said. "But if it doesn't, that's okay, because I like to think that everyone here will be fine now and happy."

"Can I go punch Sesshomaru in the face one more time?" InuYasha asked. Kagome laughed and pulled on his hand. But he wasn't able to take a step before a rock hit him upside the head. "What the hell?" InuYasha yelled, looking around. Sesshomaru was standing at the edge of the forest, smirking. "You son of a bitch, what was that for?"

"You wanted to punch me in the face. Again," Sesshomaru explained.

"And now I get the chance!" InuYasha growled.

"Why are you here, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, ignoring the brothers' bickering. InuYasha stopped his charge to look back at her. Sesshomaru was looking at her as well.

"You aren't from this time," Sesshomaru stated bluntly. Kagome's mouth dropped open. Everyone else had said 'this world' or 'this country' when referring to her home time, except Kaede and it had taken some explaining to her.

"How did you figure it out?" Kagome asked.

"When InuYasha lost his mind and attacked me," Sesshomaru said and InuYasha dismissed him with a 'feh', "he said that my many-times-great-grandson would hurt you. While skeptical that I would have human offspring, I can't ignore that perhaps one of my future children may share my father's perversion. You dress strangely, you talk strangely and I've been from one end of our world to the other," ('_Japan, Maybe China,_' Kagome corrected in her head, knowing that Sesshomaru was very unlikely to have crossed the ocean) "and no one dresses or speaks as you do. However when InuYasha was born, people spoke differently. And the language had changed then from when I was a child."

"Just when _were_you born?" Kagome asked InuYasha, wondering how old InuYasha was if there was a language change since his birth.

"I don't know," InuYasha grumbled. "Do you count the time I was pinned to that stupid tree?"

"Uh..." Kagome thought for a minute.

"No," Sesshomaru answered for her. "Since you did not age and were not alive, that fifty years is lost to you. You were born around two hundred years ago. That makes you around one hundred and fifty years old."

"Hn," Kagome made a surprised noise. Sesshomaru moved his head slightly in question. "I just didn't think you were that smart," Kagome explained and then clapped her hand over her mouth as she realized who she was talking to. Sesshomaru stared at her and she found herself in the familiar situation of not having a clue as to what was going through his mind. He was constantly surprising people with his responses lately. When he had forgiven Sango for nearly killing Rin (which Kagome found out about later) when she had offered up her life, by simply dismissing the incident, they had all been stunned.

"How do you know that I have a descendant in her time?" Sesshomaru asked InuYasha, apparently deciding to ignore Kagome's low opinion of his intelligence.

"They have tests they can run on blood in her time that tell you if you're related to someone. And I'm related to him," InuYasha answered.

"Why would you test if you were related?" Sesshomaru persisted. He looked at Kagome and then his eyes widened. "_That_ is how he hurt her?"

"Shut up," InuYasha warned his brother.

"Her child is not yours then," Sesshomaru continued, undaunted.

"Yes, she is," InuYasha growled dangerously. Sesshomaru stared at his brother for a while and then nodded and turned to leave.

"I hope you at least had the decency to kill him," Sesshomaru called back before he disappeared entirely into a ball of light. InuYasha flinched.

"Let it go," Kagome said and InuYasha nodded.

"I'm not him," he told Kagome and turned and hugged her for further proof.

"I'm glad," Kagome said, closing her eyes and hugging him back. They stepped apart and she smiled up at him. "Now let's go, if you've finished your good-byes as well." InuYasha nodded and took her hand as they looked at the land around the well in the sengoku jidai for what might be the last time. She squeezed his hand and he scooped her up and jumped into the well, feeling peaceful as the time vortex enclosed them.

_**To be continued…**_

_A/N: So, long time, no Japanese lesson, ne? New words: **onbuhimo**—a soft baby and toddler carrier like the popular mei tai, only with rings instead of waist straps, specific to Japan. **Itai**—"it hurts", ouch, ow, hurt, etc. **yokatta**—typically used in anime to mean "I'm relieved". **Obaasan**—grandma.**Oji**—uncle, younger than parent. **konbu**—devil's apron, a type of kelp like seaweed. **Obi**—belt (you should know that!) Important in this case because, like the hakama, it's supposed to be one of the nine gifts given for good fortune in a marriage before the wedding. **hakama**—a type of pants worn in formal occasions, during sword fighting including iaido, and what InuYasha and Sesshomaru wear, though hakama are not normally 'bloused' at the ankle as those two do—that's an even older style than the sengoku jidai. _

_Now, onto the controversial issues: InuYasha's age—since I add in elements of both manga and anime, the manga is the primary source of 'canon' I draw from, but when a question goes unanswered, I draw from the anime if it's possible and doesn't contradict. According to Takahashi's official guide, InuYasha's age in human years is unknown, but he is the equivalent of fifteen. I liked the evenness of the anime movie's addition of his birth being 200 years ago—making him 150, meaning that he ages a year every ten. It would make my author's notes far too long to debate this with myself (as I've already done and deleted, lol) so let's just run with it. Maybe he grew like a dog and the first few years happened at human speed and he's actually aging slower than 1-for-10, but... I'm shutting up now. Ja ne!_

_Vaccines: In Japan, they were started at age two for decades and when Japan did this, SIDS nearly vanished from their country. When they returned (very recently) to the 'first year' schedule (no one over-vaccinates like the US) their SIDS rate skyrocketed. I'm not sure when the change happened, but Kagome gets to be in the pre-change Japan._


	32. The End is the Beginning is the End

_Disclaimer: InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for this story, you think I'd be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes… _

Genre: Angst, Romance  
Rating: M  
Codes: Inu/Kag  
Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

**The Boyfriend  
Chapter 32**

Kagome looked down at the pink ball in her hands and said good-bye to the last three years. She whispered her wish to the jewel, that it be gone forever, and she felt Midoriko's soul sigh in relief. Distantly, she felt other spirits release and she was bathed in contentment. She knew now that it was truly over.

She shook and stared, unwavering, at the sacred tree. She couldn't turn around. The contentment had vanished, leaving her alone and fearful of what wouldn't be there if she looked behind.

Then his arms slid around her waist and she spun with a cry of joy. Kagome looked into InuYasha's eyes for only a second before she met his lips with her own.

"I guess I get to stay," he said, smiling. Several thoughts ran through Kagome's mind, sarcastic, joking and heartfelt, but none of that mattered. She stepped away from her window and to her bed, taking InuYasha with her. She kissed him before they reached it and backed the rest of the way onto the bed. He followed her down as she laid back. "Kagome," he whispered in a sound close to pain, as he lifted up on his arms above her.

She blushed furiously as she felt him pressed against her, and how happy he was to be there.

"InuYasha," she answered. His eyes were soft and he blinked hard twice as he raised his hand to her face. It was shaking and her breath caught. He was so beautiful, but she seldom even admitted it to herself, having always feared that he was never truly hers. He gently brushed her hair back and then kissed her again.

His hand went down to the waist of her skirt, caught on her shirt and pulled it up. Kagome shivered and lifted her arms so that he could release it. His mouth opened just a little as he sat up and looked at her. She didn't need to ask if he liked what he saw, it would be as stupid as asking if a dog liked steak. The answer was written in his eyes—so tender, hungry, nervous and excited all at the same time.

Everyone was out of the house for the afternoon and they finally had that time to themselves.

Kagome's mind lost all thought under InuYasha's curious hands within seconds. _This_ was how it was supposed to feel. This was right. It was amazing...

[censored--please read this on mediaminer or adult fanfiction dot net if you are old enough for the whole show! Sorry! TOS and all _]

InuYasha opened his eyes and sat up on his elbows, then reached out to bring her in for a kiss. He pressed her back until she was lying on her side and then moved his kisses down her body. He traced small scars with his fingers and then kissed them, too, moving to the bigger scars with his fingers, then his mouth. Kagome's embarrassment flared and vanished as he did all of this and then he pressed her back and climbed on top of her.

A small flash of fear filled her, everything went dark and she had a sense memory of the scent of rain making mud and she tensed. InuYasha froze and the light in his eyes changed to concern. He opened his mouth and then closed it, his brows knitting together.

Kagome turned her head to the window and the sunlight filtering through the room and felt immediately better. She took a deep breath and relaxed as much as she could, then smiled up at InuYasha, who matched her expression, though he moved more slowly now.

[censored] She opened her eyes to InuYasha's. The look in them was something she had never seen before. His whole face was changed—open, young...

[censored]

His eyes opened lazily and he leaned down to kiss her before he slid to the side to lie panting next to her. [censored] She said a silent prayer of thanks that he had remembered what she had taught him about that, although they had no idea if he could even father children. She had thought about how mules, zonkeys, ligers, etc. were sterile and wondered if InuYasha would be able to have children.

Then she shook away the thought since Sesshomaru's hanyo offspring had clearly bred down to purely human. She would remind InuYasha of that another time, since she knew he worried.

The sunlight lit up strands of his silver hair so that they glowed and she reached out to touch it. It was okay to touch him now, what they had done was certainly much more than just wanting to stroke his hair and tweak his ears. He gave a soft chuckle when she did the latter, then took her by the wrist and pulled her down to lie across his chest.

"I love you, Kagome." Except for her name, it was so quiet, she almost missed it. She smiled widely, knowing what it meant for him to say it—as though she didn't know!

"I love you, InuYasha," she whispered back. She rose and fell with his happy sigh and giggled before settling in to listen to his heart beat against her ear.

"You keep me myself," InuYasha said. "You take the bad parts away, but you don't run away from me for them. We have a good family now. I'll be a good father and a good husband, you'll see."

"I know," Kagome said. "Do you think I'll be a good wife?"

"Feh," InuYasha replied. "If I didn't think that, would I be here? Of course you will be! Just like you're a great mother." Kagome had to close her eyes as tears welled up.

"It was a long road," she said, rubbing her eyes on his chest and kissing the nearest rib to disguise it, though she knew he probably smelled them. "But I'd walk it again to have this ending."

"Yeah," InuYasha agreed. "Although this isn't an ending. It's a whole new beginning."

_**Fin.**_

_A/N: Wow, that ending took a long time to be in a place to write. I hope that you all enjoyed the journey. When InuYasha ended, it made finishing this story harder, as, even though all stories are technically AU, this became even more so when she wrote her end. I was just glad to get mine in before she did (the end of Naraku). The wish I was **going** to have Kagome make was "I wish all the souls in the jewel would be free and at peace," but that was close enough to it just not existing, as Takahashi-san wrote. Thank you all for going down this road with me and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did! This will probably conclude my days of writing fanfic for InuYasha, but I've learned to never say never! Peace, love and penguins._


End file.
